From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide has called for the restoration of calm and normalcy in Orlu, Imo State, appealing that soldiers should vacate the community without further delay.
President General of the group Barr Basil Onyeachonam Onuorah, in a statement released Monday after an executive council meeting of the organisation in Abuja, said the national executive of the organisation expressed dismay over the continued presence of soldiers in Orlu and some other communities within Orlu.
The organisation said the presence of soldiers in the area was long overdue since no part of Igbo land is currently in the state of war.
The organisation also took a swipe on the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma and the governors of the five South-East states for their various actions and inactions on the Orlu saga noting that they may be forced to call for their resignation in offices if they fail to do something fast.
The group also cautioned pro-Biafra organizations like IPOB and MASSOB on the need for them to refrain from making inflammatory statements that may worsen an already tensed situation.
The statement reads in part:
‘It is condemnable for Governor Hope Uzodinma to lock up people in their houses for weeks without making provisions that will cushion the effects of hunger, health challenges and other untold hardship the imposed curfew has caused in the affected communities.
‘We hereby also caution IPOB and MASSOB to stop making unguarded statements that end up endangering the lives of Ndigbo. We are not at war with the Nigerian Government and those instigating actions capable of degenerating the already tensed situations in the country to civil war should desist from such with immediate effect.
‘Why are the South-East governors dying in silence? The silence of our South-East governors is no longer golden. You cannot provide your people with security; you cannot make a decision and stand by it. Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide will soon demand the resignation of all the South-East Governors since they have all resolved to die in silence. Some are even abroad and imposing a curfew from there, this madness must stop.’