Christian leaders across denominations in the Southeast geo-political zone, have asked the federal and state governments to urgently restore a national sense of belonging, equity and fairness in dealing with all segments of Nigeria.

This, they said, will go a long way to end the orgy of violence that have trailed separatist agitations in the country, particularly in the South East.

This was contained in a two-page release made available to journalists in Enugu, on Sunday.

The document was signed by the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev. Dr Anthony J. V. Obinna; the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Dr Emmanuel Chukwuma; the Methodist Archbishop of Umuahia, Most Rev. Dr Chibuzo R. Opoko and five others.

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The leaders, acting under the aegis of representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops on Peace and Conflict Resolution, however, pointed out that it was the failure to entrench equity and fairness that was largely responsible for the agitations.

They said, “Our land is soaked with blood and a gloomy cloud hang in the air. This cannot be allowed to go on.”

According to them, whereas some may be content with analysing only the immediate causes of the situation, they would prefer to point out that at the root of all the problems is the failure of governance at various levels.

They noted that with the return to constitutional democracy in 1999, Nigerians had looked forward to have a sense of national belonging and the restoration of equity and fairness, but “this, unfortunately, has not happened.”