BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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The Igbo Conscience, an Igbo cultural, says the current agitation by some youths in the South-Eat does not represent wishes and aspirations of everyone from the region and should be jettisoned forthwith
| By Adaku Onyenucheya |
THE Igbo Conscience, TIC, an Igbo cultural group, is not in support of the ongoing agitation for Biafra. The TIC at a press conference on Wednesday, November 18, condemned the resurging pro-Biafra protest in the South-East region, by youths in the region and asked their acts should be discountenanced as they do not represent the Ndigbo.
The group said its silence on the renewed agitation for the Sovereign State of Biafra was deliberate so that they could gather facts and figures that would be difficult to dispute to back their pronouncement rather than being hasty.
Monday Ubani, a lawyer and chairman of the TIC, said this at a press conference he addressed on Wednesday, November 18. In the address titled: “Ndigbo are better off in a united Nigeria,” Ubani said the youths had been brainwashed by political figures and “appear to be tools in the hands of failed politicians” to achieve their aims after losing the 2015 elections.
“What is now unfolding is the resurgence and renewed agitation by a new group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, lead by a young man known by the name Nnamdi Kanu who uses social media to propagate his agenda and to be sincere he seem to have mobilised a large followership who consist of the youth, traders and even some educated elite.
“What we are seeing presently is a group of young men and women who are trained to sing ‘let my people go’ song all over the South-East region demanding that Igbos should pull out of the Nigerian state,” he said.
The human rights activist said that “the reluctance of respected Igbo men and women across the nation to speak on the agitation because they consider it infra dig to expend precious time on it has enabled a handful of charlatans and politicians working in cahoots with the demonstrators to seek to create the impression that a majority of Igbo people are in solidarity with the agitators.”
He said that the Ndigbo were not consulted on the Biafra agitation which led to the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu, director of Radio Biafra. The human rights lawyer said that the Ndigbo had contributed to the history and development of Nigeria far too long to allow everything to into a waste.
According to Ubani, the TIC has rejected the efforts by charlatans to stereotype Ndigbo as perpetual victims of the Nigerian state and chronic complainers.
“We don’t understand why some Ndigbo should feel comfortable anchoring their just demands from the Nigerian system on self-pity through relentless cries of marginalisation and neglect.
“We are yet to reconcile the present embarrassing pedestrian argument surrounding this new craze for Biafra with the well acknowledge depth and staying power of Ndigbo on national issues,” he said.
Ubani warned that the current “rootless and uncoordinated agitation” had brought about the renewed anti-Igbo sentiments among the neighbouring states in the South-South and should be jettisoned forthwith.
The TIG assured the South-South states that the Ndigbo had no plan of conscripting them into the fancy utopia of the agitators, adding that some economic refugees residing Europe and America were inflaming the harsh economic realities in Nigeria by fueling the agitation.
Ubani, however, challenged the economic refugees inciting the “deadly fire” to relocate to Biafra with their families to become the agitators rather than prodding unfortunate youths to destruction.
While fielding questions from journalists, Ubani said, unemployment had been the major reason why youths engaged in the agitation and other criminal activities, noting that job opportunities would keep them busy.
He appealed to the government to carry everyone along on its economic development plans. He also said that there was need for restructuring and granting of autonomy to every region in the country.
Nkechi Chukwueke, a lawyer and member of the group, said Biafra would not stand because of the people’s ignorance of what they were doing. Chukwueke said the agitators should be educated and enlightened on the consequences of war.
She thus appealed to women as home builders not to allow their families get involved in the agitation.
On the issue of referendum to resolve the crisis, Joe Igbokwe, founder of the TIC, said there was no basis for it. Igbokwe, however, appealed to the government to work hard and address certain issues so that the people would have equal sense of belonging.
— Nov 20, 2015 @ 11:10 GMT
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