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BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
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Youths under the auspices of ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths World-wide’ have said unequivocally that they would not participate in the planned nationwide protest tagged: “End Bad Governance”, slated for August 1, this year.
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Rising from their one-day emergency convention in Enugu on Monday, the National President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Mazi Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu, who read the communique of the meeting, stated that the Southeast geo-political zone had been protesting every Monday in the last two years, insisting that “more protests will cause more injuries to our people, our region and our economy”.
Okpalaezeukwu noted that participating in the protests may escalate ethnic tensions and create more divisions which could jeopardise the interest of Ndigbo.
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They however demanded the immediate and unconditional release from Correctional custody of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu who has been detained since 2021 as well as other youths languishing in prisons across the country.
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Okpalaezeukwu, who acknowledged however that the southeast region has every reason to protest, ranging from widespread economic hardship, massive youth unemployment, poor representation in governance, marginalisation, demolition of property of Igbo in many states, among other series of injustices, noted that participating in the exercise might become violent and they (Igbo youths) may be used as scapegoats.
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According to him, instead of protest, the youths have decided to engage with the federal government and governors of the Southeast on the peculiar challenges confronting the region, with a view to finding lasting solutions to them.
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He maintained that while the hunger protest is within the constitutional rights of the people and also justifiable owing to the current state of affairs of the country, it is feared that the protest could result in the loss of lives and property of Igbo citizens that characterised the Endsars protest of 2020.
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“We need one more state to balance the Southeast with other zones. We have many of our young people, including Nnamdi Kanu who are held across different detention centres unjustly.
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“But we don’t want a repeat of the destruction of our investments across the country because we will become the targets anywhere the protest holds.
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“We will engage in meaningful dialogue to ensure that our voice is heard, moving forward and that equity, fairness and a sense of belonging is guaranteed”, he said.
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He stated that Igbo youths were however angry with the five governors of the region for not “being carried along in their administration”.
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“We don’t know what they are doing. They have denied us appointments, they have remained unaccounted to us but a day of reckoning is coming”, they declared.
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They however commended President Bola Tinubu for signing into law the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) explaining that it would enhance the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the zone ravaged by the civil war.
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The meeting was attended by leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) with youths drawn from Abia, Anambra , Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.
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