As AYCF calls for protection of Northerners in the region
Ohaeneze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC), yesterday, reiterated support for Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, over ban on compliance with sit-at-home orders issued to residents by secessionists.
The Igbo youths condemned tension in Enugu, on Wednesday, following reports that gunmen moved around to enforce the one-week sit-at-home order by a faction of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), led by Simon Ekpa.
National President of OYC, Okwu Nnabuike, urged security agencies to redouble efforts in winning the confidence of residents.
Nnabuike said the governor walked his talk by providing more logistics to the police, noting that it is the responsibility of security agencies to ensure the agitators do not succeed.
He said: “We want to commend the governor of Enugu State for his steadfastness towards ending the perennial sit-at-home, which has done more harm than good. We, Ohanaeze youths, have been demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu, but we have always said that the sit-at-home will not help matters.
“Mbah showed leadership by meeting with President Bola Tinubu over Kanu’s incarceration, and we are confident that the President would give the request a positive consideration, once his cabinet is formed.”
Okwu expressed concern that security agencies were not living up to expectations, adding: “We are calling on security agencies to rise to the occasion. If they were proactive, the confusion on Wednesday would not have happened. Security agencies were not found at strategic locations until news of attacks spread across the state.
“We, therefore, call on them to partner the governor in his determination to secure the state and citizens. There is no doubt that Mbah is prepared to bring development to the state. He should be given all the support.”
Meanwhile, Northern youths, under the aegis of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), have asked South East governors to ensure the life and property of Northerners in the region are protected, as enforcers of the one-week sit-at-home order unleash violence.
Condemning the development, AYCF President, Yerima Shettima, frowned at what he called “mindless and unrelenting violent disturbances” created by certain interest groups in the South East, in the name of agitation for a separate state of Biafra.
He said: “We are aware that perpetrators of violence are relentlessly pursuing this agenda of destruction and collective mayhem, hoping it would engulf the entire country and bring about mass killing and suffering to innocent people.
