From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chike Obidigbo, has told President Bola Tinubu to address the spate of insecurity in the South and to put measures in place to speed up the release of Nnamdi Kanu, Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as a new year gift.
Obidigbo, in a statement yesterday entitled: ‘Criticality of Urgent Ethnic Nationalities’ Conference and National Referendum’, claimed that 2024 was a “very trying year, for the people of the South East.”
He added that apart from the continued and unjust incarceration of IPOB’s Kanu, the climate of insecurity was sustained, even as political marginalization and blatant cheating that defined the preceding eight years of Muhammadu Buhari persists as the lot of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
As part of his intervention, he told the President to convoke a meeting of ethnic nationalities to revisit Nigeria’s amalgamation document, which expired in 2014.
According to him, the plan for a referendum should replace the ongoing efforts by the National Assembly to further review the 1999 Constitution.
He said: “For the Igbo nation, 2024 had been a very trying year. Apart from the continued and unjust incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the climate of insecurity was sustained, even as political marginalization and blatant cheating that defined the preceding eight years of General Muhammadu Buhari persists as the lot of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
“As we march with stalwart faith into year 2025, I am inclined to state that the year holds great implications for Nigeria, particularly for the Igbo nation. These implications range from social relations, politics, business, security and the progress of the younger generation.
“To make the best of 2025 therefore, President Bola Tinubu should convoke a meeting of ethnic nationalities to revisit Nigeria’s amalgamation document, which expired in 2014.
“Let us stop deceiving ourselves. We all know that Britain, the colonial merchants of fortune, did not seek the consent of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities before merging the component units into one country.
“The South East, unfortunately lacks political leadership. Most of our so-called political leaders are always on their own, bereft of popular followership,” he said.
He recommended that, “as we get into the new year, let us, as citizens, learn to demonstrate fear of God and love of neighbour, by taking decisions and actions that will instantly halt the cold blooded massacre of our youths, both in uniform and in mufti.
“The best way to hail Nigeria and ensure that it becomes a land where no one is oppressed is through love and affection, which can only come through a mutually beneficial agreement to live together peacefully, as one people.”