Igbo elders, organized under the United Igbo Elders Council UNIEC, have called for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, and all political prisoners.
The group also demanded an end to unlawful arrests, secret detentions, and extrajudicial killings across the country, as well as the cessation of ports and economic blockades affecting Eastern Nigeria.
In a statement titled “New Governance Model for Nigeria,” signed by Prof. Obasi Igwe, Director of Media and Publicity, and Alpha Justice, Coordinator-General, the elders outlined a five-point agenda aimed at fostering peace and development in Nigeria.
UNIEC stated that these demands followed extensive consultations and analysis of various proposals concerning Nigeria’s current challenges. They emphasized that restructuring, regionalism, and referendums are essential for achieving lasting peace and stability in the country.
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 on the basis of single nationality regions side by side with multi-ethnic nationality region, 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.
(allnews.ng)
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