Release Nnamdi Kanu, other political detainees, Igbo group urges Tinubu

CHINYERE IKEANYI

A foremost Igbo group, Oganiru Ndigbo Gburugburu, has called on President Bola Tinubu to begin the process of reconciling different tribes in the country by releasing the political prisoners, especially Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

The group, which made the call in Lagos during a World Press Conference it addressed, also urged Tinubu to initiate the process of healing the wound of injustice, suppression and marginalization “which have characterized the political atmosphere in the country, especially in recent times”.

In a speech jointly signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the group, Chika Dike and Martins Chiedozie Ugwu, respectively, noted that the release of Nnamdi Kanu became necessary more so that the court on different occasions has released him to go “but the reason behind his continuous incarceration is what we don’t know”.

“But for whatever reason, we appeal to the Federal Government of Nigeria to see a reason to release Kanu, especially given his deteriorating health”, the group said.

According to the group, for one or two years now, the yoke of a sit-at-home has been the burden imposed on the economic, social and security life of people of the East, especially the Southeast, adding that this has left the people with no option but to eke life out of only personal and/ or group efforts through daily trading activities to remain alive.

“It is on top of this unprecedented marginalization that a group of self-serving renegades have taken up arms, disrupting, destroying, killing and maiming our people in the name of enforcing an economically meaningless sit at home claiming it is for the release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is being held by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It doesn’t look rational”, It noted.

In its speech entitled: Ndigbo are human, alive and deserve to be heard, the group also enjoined President Tinubu-led Federal Government to rise to its responsibilities of addressing the huge infrastructure deficit in the southeast “especially road infrastructure which has continued to cause untold hardship to the people of the South East”.

“The 9th Mile- Opi- Otukpo road and other notable federal roads in the east have now turned into a very wild forest. Most of these roads were last fixed by the Shagari regime and up to date, no successive administration deemed it necessary to repair them. And it calls for question when you cannot find such a road as bad as it is with such distance anywhere in the country. Why?”, the group asked.

Pointing out that the airports from the Southeast lacked quality infrastructure despite having very significant Igbo travellers dominating this sector, the Igbo group lamented:  “This is quite unacceptable and does not speak well of a country that means well or is serious about boosting its economy”.

It then appealed to the administration of Alhaji Bola Tinubu and other relevant authorities to urgently begin to address these infrastructure deficits in the South-East.

“Seaports about trade are major gateways to the economy of a country but unfortunately, the politics and bureaucracy that have accompanied seaports in the southeast are mind-boggling. We appeal to President Ahmed Tinubu to write his name in the history of the country as a President who implemented or initiated the reconstruction of Nigeria’s economy. This seaport in the southeast will not only serve the people of the southeast but the entire country”, the group further said.

It also called the Igbo leaders anywhere they are to take responsibility for themselves and stop this in-fighting and undue superiority contest among themselves, pointing out that “This unnecessary in-fighting is giving us a bad name and we want an end to that. Be your brother’s keepers and most importantly, see the reason why you need to at least set up one or two industries in the South East.

“Oganiru Ndigbo Gburugburu being a socio-cultural and non-profit organization with a special interest in changing the face of Igbo land for good will always be there to provide you with any support you need to make that dream of industrializing the entire Igbo land a reality”, it added.

Talking on the spirit of aku ruo ulo, the group said Ndigbo should always think home, stating that the economic benefits of aku ruo ulo are unquantifiable.

“If we invest in Alaigbo, it will further quicken the physical and economic development of the region. More jobs will spring up and social vices will take a nosedive. It could be a panacea to reducing the security challenges being experienced presently in Igbo land with most of the perpetrators attributable to high levels of unemployment.

“We doff our cap to the people of Nnewi who at a point made it mandatory for all their importers to open their containers at Nnewi…this strategy yielded the desired result as people from other regions now travel to Nnewi to buy goods thereby leading to a rapid development of the area; this fit can be replicated in the other parts of Igbo land.

“The same goes for Innoson Motors which has made us proud by citing its auto assembly plant in Alaigbo rather than Lagos or elsewhere. This is the spirit of Aku ruo Ulo”.

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