……pleads with Igbo leaders not to abandon Nnamdi Kanu.

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has urged the Federal Government not to celebrate the arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB as his arrest will not bring to an end the various agitations in the zone.

Adding that the Federal Government should look at what brought about the agitation in the first place rather than  gloating over his arrest , stating that  any crackdown on Kanu will end up producing hundreds of other Kanu. 

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Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, spoke in a statement signed by its President-General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike and the Secretary-General, Comrade Obinna Achuonye on Wednesday described  the arrest of Nnamdi  kanu’s   by the federal  government  as though the act of treating just symptoms of a sickness, knowing fully well that the ailment will still remain.

The council therefore called on the federal  government to leverage on Kanu’s arrest to dialogue with the IPOB and other agitating groups

Adding  that  the FG should douse the current tension and agitations in the South-East by giving the region a sense of belonging, what is due for them, including Igbo presidency in 2023. 

“It is no longer news that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has been taken into custody by the Nigerian government, after he was arrested in Kenya

“It took time for us  to react to Kanu’s arrest because we needed to gauge the pulse of the people, advising that the government should use this opportunity to address the various issues fueling the agitations.

“So, the FG should douse the current tension and agitations in the South-East by giving the region a sense of belonging, what is due for them, including Igbo presidency in 2023. The crackdown on Kanu will end up producing hundreds of other Kanu.

“The Federal Government should look at what brought about the agitation in the first place; if you end up treating just symptoms of a sickness, the ailment will still be there. Ndigbo have never suffered this level of marginalization in Nigeria- total exclusion, total abandonment.

“We have also seen how the government is gloating over his arrest, as though it is a millennial achievement. In any case, if the government will care to listen, we advise once more that it should leverage on Kanu’s arrest to dialogue with the IPOB and other agitating groups

“Kanu’s arrest would not bring to an end the various agitations in the zone, and that as such, the government should not jubilate over it.

“Nnamdi Kanu should also be granted access to his family, medical doctor, lawyer and associates. He is still presumed innocent until proven guilty and for that he should be given a fair trial.”

“May we also tell the government to utilize the same energy in arresting bandits terrorizing the North and the rampaging herdsmen ravaging Southern Nigeria. As we speak, all schools in Kaduna State have been shut down, with hundreds of school children under the captivity of the bandits, but the government is busy looking for Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho. 

“The government must try to be civilized in its approach, not the kind of gestapo system used in invading Sunday Igboho’s house, we are not in a banana republic” OYC stated.

While thanking Igbo and Yoruba youths for remaining calm, the OYC pleaded with Igbo leaders not to abandon Nnamdi Kanu. 

“The IPOB leader should not be abandoned to his fate; we know that he abused so many Igbo leaders in his utterances, but you don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater,” he added.