Stakeholders from Southeast geo-political zone have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to embrace the call for dialogue by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a step towards genuine reconciliation.
The call was made in view of the prolonged restiveness in the region that has claimed several lives and led to the destruction of properties worth billions of naira.
The stakeholders noted that the crisis in the South East could only be addressed through a political solution, adding that a genuine dialogue between the Tinubu-led Federal Government and the IPOB will amount to victory for both parties.
Recall that last Saturday, the IPOB initiated a bold move aimed at ending several years of agitation in the region, when it declared its readiness to resume talks with the Federal Government on referendum date for Biafra.
It had hinted that it was open for peaceful negotiations and dialogue for a peaceful exit of Biafra from Nigeria through a United Nations supervised referendum.
It was not the first time the group that was formed in 2012 to restore the defunct Republic of Biafra was asking for a referendum. It had made similar requests during the administrations of former presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, but to no avail.
A statement signed by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, had stated the earlier Federal Government scheduled a date for a referendum for Biafrans to decide whether they are willing to continue to stay in Nigeria, the better for everyone.
Powerful had observed the peaceful approach of the IPOB to the self-determination struggle since its formation, but regretted that over 5000 lives had been lost with property worth $1 billion destroyed in an attempt by the country’s security forces to quench the struggle.
Emeritus President General of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazuruike, also said that the organisation had always demanded a referendum, adding, however, the late president Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan handled the demand with maturity, while the Muhammadu Buhari administration approached it with ‘fiendish disposition’.
“Today, the Tinubu administration has not openly declared its disposition. In the world of diplomacy, adjustments and shifts are normal. IPOB has shown its willingness to adjust but the Federal Government has not responded. The Federal Government has to respond with its disposition so that the process of genuine reconciliation can proceed.
“I believe that IPOB is honestly seeking an end to the current political problems we are facing. IPOB has only one leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Negotiations are empty if his release is not upfront. Today, we have all kinds of groups claiming to be Biafran. These fake ‘Biafran’ groups are criminal gangs seeking to benefit from a bad situation,” Uwazuruike noted.
