Nwodo: FG Making Things Difficult for Leaders to Douse Youth Restiveness in South-east
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
The immediate-past President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, has noted that the federal government should be held responsible for the rising youth restiveness in the South-east geopolitical zone as well as the inability of leaders in the zone to douse the raging fire.
He stated this in the pre-convocation lecture entitled: ‘Nigeria’s political and economic future: the dangers we can avert’, which he delivered at the Abia State University Uturu, as part of activities for the 27th and 28th combined convocation ceremony.
According to him, “The high handedness, brazen impunity and discriminatory approach the federal government has adopted in dealing with issues concerning the South-east geopolitical zone have continued to exacerbate the crisis in the region.
“This brazen impunity in dealing with matters which concern the Southeast is provocative.
“This current approach makes it impossible for leaders in the region to effectively contain the anger of their youths.”
Nwodo cited several instances of discriminatory handling of issues involving the Southeast, noting that the federal authorities have used sledge hammer against Biafra agitators while treating globally recognised terrorists like Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and bandits with kid gloves.
He lamented the heavy militarisation of the South-east zone and launching of military operations every now and then as if suggesting a deliberate policy to hold down the region and portray it as a dangerous area.
Nwodo, who had at different periods served as minister of information and aviation, condemned the “hurried, unfair and unlawful declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation, while the real terrorists were allowed to roam about, leaving behind blood, tears and destruction.”
He stated that it remains inexplicable why the federal government has continued to regard the Fulani herdsmen otherwise called Fulani militants as mere ‘criminals’ and not a terrorist organisation, even after they have earned the ranking by the Global Terrorist Index as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world.
The former minister pointed out that the federal government was mishandling the issue of self-determination by IPOB by classifying the group alongside Boko Haram as terrorist organisation, hence the sympathy being enjoyed by the Biafra separatists.
“The Igbo people in Nigeria consider the treatment of IPOB as unfair, discriminatory and overhand. They see the move as an attempt to encourage a profiling of Igbo in the international security arena,” he said, adding that there should be a uniform yardstick in dealing with any issue irrespective of the region and people affected.
He warned that the “discriminatory actions of the present federal government fanned the embers of ethnicity, division and hate in the body polity (and) dramatise the inadequacy of our present political structure and the urgent need for change.”
As a way of averting the looming danger, Nwodo advised the federal government “to adopt a more diplomatic and humane approach” in dealing with the issue of self-determination agitations.
He insisted that dialogue is better than military crackdown in resolving the issue of IPOB and other separatist agitations emerging from “frustration and dissatisfaction of our youths from the economic and political state of our country.”
The respected erstwhile Ohanaeze leader also harped on the need to restructure Nigeria, saying it remains the only hope for national survival. He recommended restructuring carried out through a constitutional conference of all ethnic groups in the country with the outcome subjected to a plebiscite in which all adult Nigerians shall have the right to vote.
Nwodo said: “This process in my view will ultimately refocus our country, breed a democratic culture that emphasises more on selfless service rather than individual enrichment; promote genuine unity instead of ethnic bigotry, and challenge our capacity to exploit our abundant potentialities to make life more abundant for everyone.”
