Igbo Leaders To Meet Buhari Over Nnamdi Kanu, Biafra Agitation

Southeast governors, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and Igbo leaders of thought will meet President Muhammadu Buhari within the first quarter of the year over Biafra agitation and the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo revealed that the leaders would explain to the President the need to resolve the issues of Kanu and IPOB through political solution and dialogue.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo, southeast governors and prominent Igbo leaders will meet with the President within the first quarter of this year. We in Ohanaeze, having looked at the issues of Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB, and so on, believe that they require a political solution because they represent phenomena of a kind.

“What they represent is like – when you talk of marginalization, alienation, injustice, inequity, unemployment, and the inability of the authority to listen. On the other hand, the gap between the government and the people, all these things are encapsulated into what is called IPOB. So I want people to understand that IPOB/Nnamdi Kanu is more like an outcome, an effect, it is a reaction but the cause is somewhere else.

“That reaction is pervasive and the effect is affecting everybody. Everybody is worried about the number of checkpoints we have on the road. From here to my community is supposed to be 30 minutes but it will take you two hours or more. The road is so bad and unemployment is high.

“If you look at the number of local governments and states in Nigeria, it is lopsided against the Southeast. If you look at the structure of the security architecture in Nigeria, it is lopsided against the Southeast. 

"If you look at every other aspect of political life in Nigeria, it appears to be a conspiracy against the Southeast. All these things are obvious. These things are encapsulated in what you call IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, etc.”

Ogbonnia expressed the belief that by the time all the issues are explained to the President, he will have a change of mind on Kanu.