From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Activist and founder of Igbo Youths Movement (IYM), Evang. Elliot Uko, has advised the Federal Government to engage Igbo agitators and mitigate tension in the South East.
Uko, who spoke on the heels of ongoing push for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing seditious charges before a Federal High Court, Abuja, stated that military jackboot approach leading to frequent clashes and shooting of youths in the region would not end the struggle.
He urged South East leaders to first meet with the aggrieved youths, collate their grievances and present to the Federal Government.
He also noted that calling agitators miscreants, proscribing and labelling them terrorists would not reassure those who had lost faith in the system but would deepen the division in the land.
“Having worked closely with Igbo youths for decades, I know that the agitation is about humiliating marginalisation, sectionalism, nepotism, impunity, sectarianism and oppression, such that created fear of the future in the hearts and souls of my brethren, who didn’t want their own children to inherit the second class status they found themselves in, because their parents and grandparents fought and lost the civil war.
“Every effort I made to link the agitators to the elders and leaders for meaningful engagement that would lead to resolution and closure, was shunned.
“A rigid central government and a compliant and fearful regional leadership unwittingly complicated and deepened the crises. For 22 years, everyone folded their hands watching ambivalently, until the thing metastasized like cancer tissues.
“They rejected my suggestion to engage them and begin the reconstruction of the polity back to true federalism and devolution of powers which inspired the frustration and bitterness fuelling the agitation.”