How Buhari should address the Biafran activists issue, by Chekwas Okorie

Chief Checkwas Okorie, founder of embattled All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in this interview, calls on President Buhari administration to be creative in addressing Biafra agitation issue.
The agitation for Biafra has continued several decades after civil war. What is the problem?
The issue for the agitation for Biafra has to do with agitation for self-determination by people wish to be treated with fairness, equity and justice.
Most of the young men on the street agitating for Biafra were born after the war and so looks like they do not know what led to the war. They cannot understand why their own people since they were born are invariably different from their peers in other parts of the country.
The South-east has suffered the most neglect from the Federal Government of Nigeria in terms of road construction. Even under  former President Jonathan’s administration, it was not any better.
The Buhari’s administration has just begun, so we cannot blame him that much. The matter was not picked up because Buhari became President; the Biafran agitation had been there practically since early 90s. But if  Buhari manages to address the agitation, the issue will die down. After all the Niger-Delta militancy preceeded the late President Yar’Adua. But his political moves doused the tension in that region with the initiative of amnesty.
It was the mismanagement of the Boko-Haram issue by the extra judicial killings of their leader that generated trouble in that region andt has turned to war  in Nigeria.
Arresting of agitators of the emancipation of Biafran state in my view, we have not learning from the Boko-Haram experience.
The promoter of Biafra Radio, Nnamdi Kanu, has been arrested by the DSS sparking protests in some major Igbo towns. What is the way out?
The government should release him unconditionally. If government feels her right has been infringed upon,she can go to court to press charges against him. You are aware that he has good lawyers to defend him. If care is not taken, it will become a celebrated case that would be tried under Nigeria laws. Because we have heard about radio Kudirat, it was not a properly registered radio. One of the ministerial nominees, Kayode Fayemi, said he had headed an illegal radio station before. Even the pro-APC radio that operated during the campaign period was not properly registered. I have not listened to Radio Biafra to know its position but I was informed that it is aggressive. It is people’s choice to decide to tune to it or not to.
I understand there have been attempts to use technology to jam the frequency of the radio but the attempts appear to have failed. The arrest of Boko-Haram leader Muhammed Yusuf was given as reason for the violence and spread of Boko-haram that has developed into a full-blown war in the North-east.
The fact that so many people came out to protest the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu shows he has a very large followership! And the followership may result into violent force, if mismanaged and I don’t think Nigeria can afford another violent crisis at this point in time we are battling Boko-Haram. We were able to manage Niger-Delta militancy very well, we should device a creative way to address the issue of agitation.


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