The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, has cautioned political gladiators in Abia State against taking any action capable of plunging the state into anarchy.
It could be recalled that the state had been thrown into political logjam following the June 27 ruling of an Abuja High Court, which sacked Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu and ordered that Dr. Uche Ogah be sworn in.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the National President of OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, he urged both parties to remain calm as the matter was being handled by the Court of Appeal.
He, however, argued that the Abia Charter of Equity which recommended power rotation among the senatorial zones in the state should be respected for justice and fair play.
OYC said “anything that truncates the zoning arrangement in the state could pose security threat which will not be in the interest of anybody.
“As Igbo youths, we can’t afford to sit back and watch any Igbo state put into avoidable crisis, hence our call for the Abia Charter of Equity to be respected by all the parties.
“Removing Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu who is the first and only governor from Ukwa/ Ngwa zone amounts to shortchanging the entire Abia South zone as other zones have produced two term governors.
“We advise that the wise decision of the founding fathers of the state who put in place the power rotation arrangement be respected to give peace a chance”.
The group equally restated its call on the Federal Government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra ( IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
According to OYC, the continued detention of the IPOB leader is the cause of the escalating tension and ill- feelings in the South East and part of South South zones.
They further argued that Kanu’s continued detention even against court orders portrayed the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as anti- Igbo.
He said intelligence reports available to the Igbo youth group indicated that there could be a total breakdown of law and order in the entire South East and South South zones if Kanu was not released soon.
OYC wondered why the Federal Government would continue to hold Kanu who had never taken up arms against the state, while captured members of the dreaded Boko Haram terror group were serially released from detention.
“It beats the imagination that terrorists who have been responsible for the death of innocent Nigerians are being released while unarmed freedom fighters are kept behind the bars against court orders.
“This bias poses serious threat to our peace and national unity , and we hope the President will address it before it becomes too late”, the statement said.
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