The South-East Governors’ Forum, National Assembly members and other leaders in the region on Thursday called on all ethnic nationalities in the country to maintain mutual peace in the face of the ongoing protests across the country.
The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, stated this in Abakaliki, while briefing journalists on the outcome of their virtual meeting.
The leaders condemned in strong terms a video clip currently trending on the social media, in which the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was alleged to have made provocative statements.
They observed that Kanu had already disowned the video and called on the governments of other states to ensure the safety of Igbos in their domain as much as they would protect theirs in Igbo land.
The leaders further condemned the killing of peacefully protesting youths in Lagos and urged the Federal Government to investigate the matter and bring culprits to book in line with the laws of the land.
Umahi said, “While we are sympathising with the Lagos State Government and others who have lost their citizens in the protests, we appeal to the youths in the country to disembark from the protests, it has been hijacked by hoodlums.
“While we equally maintain that the demands of the #EndSARS protesters have been met by the governments of many states, we advise youths to constructively engage with government towards meeting other genuine demands of theirs.”
Umahi advised his fellow governors to bring the youths close enough to governance for them to begin to appreciate the gains and enormous challenges in leadership, saying, “We appeal to the youths to forgive their leaders wherever they have failed them, because we will go back to the drawing board.”
The virtual meeting, according to Umahi, was attended by givernors of the zone, traditional rulers, clerics, National Assembly members and other eminent leaders of the region.
