From CHARLES ONYEKWERE
Factional apex Igbo sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has disclosed that the people of Southeast zone would not be part of the planned June 12 Democracy Day protest across the country.
Ohanaeze said this decision is not a withdrawal from civic responsibility, but rather a strategic response aimed at safeguarding Igbo lives and property across Nigeria, particularly within the Southeast zone.
The pan Igbo group stated that historical involvement in national protests has left the zone with bitter memories marred by betrayal and violence.
According to Ohanaeze, over the last 65 years since Nigeria’s independence, evidence has shown that during previous protests against government actions, Igbo people have been unjustly demonized and treated as scapegoats, resulting in tragic consequences.
In a statement issued yesterday by the factional Deputy President-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Ohanaeze noted that slaughtering of lgbo people, often without compensation and justice, has taught a painful lesson adding that the continuation of protests under the current circumstances poses a direct threat to Ndigbo.
The statement read, “Moreover, the prevailing insecurity in the Southeast renders any form of protest imprudently hazardous. It is crucial to emphasize that the Igbo nation shall not participate in any national protests until our pressing demands are duly recognized and acted upon most critically, the immediate release of all Igbo prisoners of conscience unjustly detained in various prisons.
“Notable among them is Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, along with others. The federal government has demonstrated selective justice by dismissing felony charges against certain individuals while our own brothers remain imprisoned without just cause. This double standard cannot continue.
“We must assert this uncomfortable truth to the organizers of national protests: there is a clear consensus among the Igbo people that we will no longer entertain any protests in the Southeast nor partake in any national protests anywhere in Nigeria where Igbo reside.
“Furthermore, we are acutely aware of a covert plot being engineered by unpatriotic politicians and anti-democratic elements in various regions, including Abuja, Kaduna, Maiduguri, and Lagos. “These unscrupulous groups appear intent on using national protests as instruments of destabilization against the Tinubu administration, aiming to unjustly portray the Igbo as adversaries of the government. This must be firmly resisted.
