Eze Chukwu, the chairman of the Forum of National Youth Leaders of all Political Parties in Nigeria, has offered suggestions to President Bola Tinubu on providing respite to the restive South-East.
Mr Chukwu, in an interview on Friday in Abuja, said such a gesture made to former Niger Delta militants, if extended to IPOB, could end the recurrent killings in the South-East.
He said that the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) gave birth to IPOB, adding that these were aimed at raising issues of injustice against the Igbo people.
“I am convinced that if the Igbo are given their due place in the scheme of things, the idea of Biafra agitation wouldn’t have arisen in the first place and if the needful is done before now, the agitation would have been put to rest.
“Now that the self-acclaimed leaders of IPOB have been arrested, it will be wise for the government to ensure that no other leader emerges by acting fast to proffer a solution to this age-long problem,” said the politician.
“My dear President, let the federal government step up action to extradite Mazi Simon Ekpa as well as issue a statement on plans to solve this problem in the South-East once and for all.
“I suggest amnesty for IPOB as it was with the former militants in the Niger Delta. This will calm nerves and deter further problems as well as the emergence of another IPOB leader,” he said.
He said Mr Tibunu would write his name in gold if he restored normalcy in the zone.
“You will be recognised alive, and you will be remembered in death. My joy that Ekpa is arrested is because it will lead to the end of the sit-at-home saga as well as violent crime associated with their actions,” he said.
He said that with the establishment of the South-East Development Commission, it would be easier to rehabilitate members of IPOB if they surrendered their arms in the event of the amnesty programme.
(NAN)