- The former minister of aviation has insisted that Igbo leaders in All Progressives Congress (APC) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) are to blame for the crisis in the southeast
- Osita Chidoka warned the leaders to desist from giving lame explanations on the growing agitation
- He also called on the youth in the region to remain calm amid the growing tension in the southeast
The former minister of aviation Osita Chidoka has blamed Igbo leaders in All Progressives Congress (APC) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) for escalating the aggression in the southeast region.
Chidoka said he stands by his previous statement that the Igbo leaders in the two parties have contributed immensely to the growing crisis in the region.
The former minister also called on the leaders in the APC and APGA to stop overwhelming agitations with lame explanations but go and face the people who they betrayed.
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A statement by the media director of the Osita Chidoka Campaign office, Viola Okolie, however urged the youths in the region to remain calm amid the growing tension in the southeast.
The statement read: “Since our statements wherein directly opposed the military action in the south east and blamed the escalation of hostilities against the region on the silence of Igbo leaders in APC and APGA, we have been inundated by the two parties attempting to rationalize their failure.
“APGA and Igbo leaders in the APC should direct their explanations, if they have any, to the people and not to us. They should face the people and rationalize to them the harassment, humiliation and killing of our unarmed brothers and sisters in Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Enugu and recently in Ekwulobia, Umuahia and Aba."
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Okolie further called on the southeast Igbo leaders to explain to the people why south easterner are being tagged and treated as the 5% of the Nigerian population.
“They should tell them why they kept silent in the face of the constant threats and aggression against south easterners living in northern parts of the country. They should explain their silence on the heavy deployment of APC-controlled security forces to the southeast and the constant harassment and unwarranted violence against unarmed youth by unscrupulous uniformed men.
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“They should tell the people what they have done on the issue of tagging of south easterners and treating them as mere 5% in this country.
“We all know that only the United Progressive Party (UPP), as a political party has been speaking out for the people and defending their constitutionally guaranteed rights whenever occasion demands, while making genuine efforts to aggregate the view of ndi-Igbo to other groups in the country.
“The fact remains that if Igbo leaders in APC and APGA had played their roles by adequately aggregating and explaining the views of the southeast to other parts of the country, the agitations we now have in the region and the unnecessary disagreements we face in other parts of the country would not be there.
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“On our own part, we stand for peace and reject any resort to violence. We will continue to speak out against all forms of marginalization, injustice and inequality. The key issues for us remain those of equal access to opportunities and abolition of unfair advantages to any group in the polity. We therefore strongly urge our youth to resist the temptation to vent their anger on other harmless Nigerians going about their normal activities in the region.
“Finally, we restate our call on security forces to forthwith end the harassment and violations against unarmed civilians not only in the southeast as being witnessed today, but also in other parts of the country," Okolie concluded.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that the former minister had condemned the deployment of soldiers and weapons to some states in the south east.
Chidoka said the deployment of the military in the region is causing aviodable loss of lives and property.
He said also announced that a team of lawyers and activists was being assembled to check and monitor cases of human rights abuses by soldiers in the region.
You can watch this NAIJ.com video of APC official stating how the party can loose elections in 2019:
Source: Naij.com
