The Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide says it plans to use a non-kinetic approach to resolve security challenges in the South-East region by appealing to people causing bloodshed to embrace peace.

The President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, disclosed this during a World Conference it organised to announce the programme for September 29 Igbo Day Celebration on Saturday in Enugu.

Mr Iwuanyanwu, who described the killings and bloodshed in the southeast as ‘strange’, said as a father, “I am tired of the death of my children and they have given me the responsibility to lead them”.

He blamed the prevailing unemployment and hunger as part of the reasons for the unrest, adding that, “I am not saying that hunger and unemployment will make one to be a criminal but not everyone has capacity to endure hunger.”

The president-general maintained that security of every place in Nigeria was the collective responsibility of everyone, adding that the federal government alone could not handle it.

He promised to announce a non-kinetic solution to the insecurity in the region during the upcoming Igbo Day Celebration that will require both state and federal support, and to all the actors to “embrace peace”. 

To agitators from the region, the Igbo leader said, “We are not going to arrest or kill them. I don’t want to kill any of our children; we are going to appeal to them to tell us what they want us to do.

“Those who are hungry, we will find them something to do to keep them happier but letting of bloodshed and killing should stop.

“It is not easy to stop a hungry person who has found means of getting livelihood through guns but as a father, I will go and cry to them and I am praying to God that these my approach work out well,” he said.

He also vowed to resolve all the political crises among the political leaders in the zone by reconciling them to move the region forward.

The Igbo leader appealed to the federal government to assist the zone with the reconstruction of railways, creation of seaports and more international airports to ease their businesses.

“The issue of sharing rice as palliative does not have any meaning to any Igbo man but what you can do for him is to give him opportunity to make a living for himself,” he said.

(NAN)