The Ohanaeze Youth Council(OYC), has alleged that the South east governors and stakeholders are the major cause of violence in the region.

The National President, OYC, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka said this on Monday, June 21 in Enugu, while reacting to a statement by the South-eastern governors and stakeholders after a meeting held in Enugu on Saturday, June 19.

 

The Southeast governors/stakeholders had said;

“We condemn in totality, the activities of violent secessionist groups in South East and elsewhere, we firmly proclaim that we do not support them, they do not speak for South East. The impression that South East leaders are silent over some of our youth agitators for secession is not correct.

“South East governors, Ohanaeze President, National Assembly members, notable leaders had come out publicly many times in the past to speak against such agitations.

“In order not to mismanage the unfortunate situation, South East leaders have set up a committee to engage such youths to stop and allow elders speak to address such fears.”

According to a press release signed by Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to OYC National President, and made available to ALL FACTS NEWSPAPER, Igboayaka said;

“It’s obvious that Southeast governors and stakeholders have lost sense of reality on ground as regards the quest for self-determination by many pro-Biafra groups. Let the world understand and know the truth that Southeast governors and stakeholders are the remote cause of any perceived violence by self-determination groups in Igbo land. That is why all the self-determination groups are headed by Ndigbo, this implies that Ndigbo are in lack of credible leaders and denied of justice in Nigeria.

 

“The groups agitating for independence in Igbo land are like the ‘Wind’ not just the wind but a ‘tsunami wind’ that will blow and cause Southeast governors and all the stakeholders in Igbo land to summersault beyond recognition.

 

“If anyone move around in Igbo communities and have one-on-one interaction with the youths, you will discover that they are in pains, agony, perjury, coupled with unemployment, in fact, the youths are thirsty for violence, they want die in what they believe. Therefore, the item seven in the communiqué of Southeast governors and stakeholders is what increases this hunger for violence among the youths in Igbo land.

 

“Igbo youths have lost confidence and trust on the political actors of Igbo extraction. This loss of confidence and trust has resulted to directionlessness, loss of control of Igbo political actors on the youth. What is, therefore left for any genuine Igbo political actor is not to make unguided or careless statements about Self-determination quest, but to explore a means to regain the confidence of the youths on their side.

 

“It is unfortunate that at the era of Dim Ikemba Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Dr. M. I Okpara and Akanu Ibiam when patriotic Igbo men walked on the surface of mother earth, such open, careless, betrayal, cowardice and unsalted statement cannot come from leaders whose sole responsibility is to shield their people through speeches and actions” Igboayaka lamented.

He went further to say;

“The Way Gumi approaches Bandits in the North, I advise the Southeast governors and Stakeholders to gather courage and go on One Month mentorship to the  Islamic cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi and learn how elders Statesmen of a nationality should shield their youths and speaks for them rather than betraying them.

 

“even at the height of criminal acts by bandits in the North, Sheikh Gumi stood in the gap between the bandits and their Nigeria government. Gov. El-Rufai openly shielded Boko haram members irrespective of their height of terrorism against the Nigerian Government. But Igbo youths simply on the quest for self-determination due to series of injustice, marginalization and deliberate extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian security agents since 1970, are being rejected by those they could call their fathers.

 

“Ohanaeze Youth Council, in its entirety, condemn the item seven (7) in the communiqué of Southeast governors and stakeholders, as it can be likened to the event of Okonkwo and Ikemefuna in Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart.”