IWA Warns FG Against Using Force in Self-Determination Struggle

The Igbo World Assembly (IWA), the umbrella body of Ndiigbo in Diaspora, has warned Nigeria’s Federal Government against using force to quell ethnic groups’ calls for self-determination.

During an emergency meeting of its country leaders yesterday, the group, after reviewing the kidnapping of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in a foreign land and his detention in Nigeria, demanded unconditional release of Kanu and other political prisoners in the country.

It advised the government to let Nigerians decide their fate while focusing on massive insecurity, unemployment, hunger, poverty, and other issues.

As a result, the group stated in a communique signed by its Chairman, Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, that Nigeria can only be saved through negotiations that allow Nigerians to express their will and discuss their peaceful coexistence based on equity, respect, and fairness, as well as discuss their peaceful coexistence based on justice.

After carefully considering the high rate of insecurity in Nigeria, massive agitation from all parts of Nigeria, ongoing killing, raping, and destruction of farms and property by Fulani herdsmen/Miyetti Allah, among other issues, the group stated in the communique that there was a need for dialogue and negotiation, adding: “We need a serious dialogue among all ethnic nationalities for Nigeria to succeed.”

Anakwenze stated in the communique that Kanu’s continued detention is unacceptable and that he must be released immediately and unconditionally.

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“The current situation, in which southern Nigerians fighting for a free homeland are killed, arrested, and detained while herdsmen/Miyetti Allah members who kill our people and rape our women are protected, cannot be tolerated.

That the kidnapping of Kanu cannot silence or end the agitation because the root cause of the agitation remains unaddressed, allowing Nigerians to choose their fate or live in freedom,” he stated.

In the communique, IWA stated that: “The existence of the IPOB, Sunday Igboho’s group, and many other such groups is a response to the current Nigerian administration’s treatment of Nigerian indigenous ethnic enclaves.”

“The federal government can use brutal force to arrest individuals, but it cannot arrest the people’s agitation, and the people’s will cannot be arrested and suppressed by force; however, negotiation could bring about a long-term solution to the country’s problems.”