Urges end to Kanu’s persecution
Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has expressed optimism that the on-going initiative by President Bola Tinubu to light up the South East, as enunciated recently by his vice, Kashim Shettima, would be revolutionary if political intrigues are not permitted to derail the project.
HURIWA also tasked the governors to partner with credible traditional, religious, youth and civil society leaders in Igbo land, providing total support to the entire population of the South East so that the noble objective is achieved.
The rights group said that it was unthinkable that virtually 75 per cent of the entire South East is cut off from the national grid, blaming this on deliberate energy marginalisation for the poor industrialisation of the Igbo region.
HURIWA said that South East states should embrace the electricity reforms just approved by the Federal Government, and take steps to augment the supply of electricity to the people rather than rely solely on the Federal Government.
The group charged the federal and South East state governments to work out an implementable and completion time-line for the initiative, as well as work resolutely towards its attainment so that actual industrialisation of the region can begin. This according to the group would inevitably stabilise the security of the South East and provide employment opportunities for millions of Igbo youths.
The rights group also advocated an immediate end to the prosecution of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and hundreds of thousands of members of the separatist group.
The group stressed that opting for a political solution to the issues that led to the prolonged incarceration of Kanu will diffuse tensions and eradicate the insecurity that has built up since the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari unwisely began military clampdown on members of IPOB.
