Olusegun Ariyo
Igbo elders under the auspices of the United Igbo Elders Council, UNIEC, have called on the Federal Government to unconditionally release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and all political prisoners.
The group made this demand in a statement through its Director of Media and Publicity, Prof Obasi Igwe, and Coordinator-General, Alpha Justice, on Saturday.
The Igbo elders also sought an immediate end to what it called all unlawful, hooded, night and secret arrests, detentions, and extrajudicial killings in the country, as well as an end to ports and economic blockades against Eastern Nigeria.
In the statement titled, “New Governance Model for Nigeria”, the group set a five-point agenda for meaningful peace and development in the country.
UNIEC said it arrived at the decisions after a series of consultations and detailed analysis of diverse proposals over the dire situation in today’s Nigeria, adding that restructuring, regionalism, and referendum are win-win templates for peace and stability in Nigeria.
The statement read: “It is an indisputable fact that by mid-2015, there was not a single insurgency or war to overthrow the Federal Government or procure a Biafra anywhere in Igbo society and none today, except the one manufactured by a tyrant that made sure that such a war existed, with shoot-to-kill or shoot-at-sight orders openly issued against promising innocent youngsters in full view of all the world, in part to punish the Igbo for their sundry sins.
“We, therefore, demand for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and his colleagues, with immediate end to all manner of unlawful, hooded, night and secret arrests, detentions and extrajudicial killings.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been tortured, victimized and dehumanized beyond measure and it confers to a nation no value to continue to keep an innocent citizen in jail.
“Opening up the Igbo/Eastern Ports system equally spills over and triggers development across the Eastern Middle Belt and beyond, while the continual lockdown of the Igbo/Eastern Ports is also having cumulative negative tolls on the entire Eastern half of the country down to Maiduguri.
“Nigeria demands restructuring based on single nationality regions side by side with multi-ethnic nationality regions, and the number in each category to be determined by competitive regional consideration.
“No economic policy or blueprint, however brilliantly formulated, can work beyond a marginal neocolonial glass ceiling without a correct political economy or foundation, otherwise a basis on which the superstructure stands.”
