Ohanaeze Ndigbo states that Biafra agitators are prepared to engage in dialogue with the federal government, potentially leading to significant changes including prisoner release and regional economic revitalization
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has announced that Biafra agitators are now ready to engage in dialogue with the Federal Government of Nigeria to chart a path forward.
In a statement released on Tuesday by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the factional Deputy President General of Ohanaeze, the organization highlighted the potential of this dialogue to usher in significant transformations.
These potential changes include the release of all prisoners of conscience, most notably Nnamdi Kanu, the reopening of the Eastern Economic Corridor, and a definitive end to violence carried out under the guise of agitation.
“It is our earnest hope that those misled into cycles of violence and armed struggle will choose to abandon their hostile actions, paving the way for a peaceful and prosperous Southeast,” the statement read.
Ohanaeze proclaimed this development as a pivotal and historic turning point for Nigeria’s geopolitical landscape.
The organization formally acknowledged the “courageous decision of the Nonviolent Pro-Biafra Agitators to extend a hand of peace towards the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
According to Ohanaeze, this moment follows twelve years of sustained diplomatic pressure from the international community and numerous United Nations-affiliated peace groups, all urging these advocates for self-determination to embrace peaceful negotiations.
Isiguzoro stated that the acceptance by the non-violent Pro-Biafra agitators to offer a “dove of peace and a hand of friendship” to the federal government marks a crucial moment in Nigeria’s history.
He further noted that this forthcoming dialogue is anticipated to mirror the earlier discussions held in Aburi, Ghana, now envisioned as the “Abuja Accord.”
“This initiative aims explicitly to address and resolve the long-standing grievances that have birthed the Biafra agitation since the cessation of hostilities in the Nigerian Civil War in 1970,” Isiguzoro explained.
He conveyed that the non-violent Pro-Biafra agitators have extended an olive branch to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, inviting the federal government to engage in a constructive dialogue over the persistent “Igbo Question.”
Isiguzoro clarified that the intended dialogue seeks to confront the unresolved issues stemming from the unimplemented policies of reconciliation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation that were envisioned by General Yakubu Gowon in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War.
