Rt Reverend Timothy Yahaya, the Anglican Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to hold talks with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as part of efforts to quell agitations by the group.
Yahaya said the agitations were caused by the marginalisation and segregation of the Southeast people by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
IPOB Leader, Mazi nnamdi Kanu (left) and Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari
According to Yahaya, IPOB should be brought to a discussion table for the government to listen to their grievances and possibly resolve them for the interest of peace and stability of the country. While stating that IPOB has genuine reasons to agitate due to the politics of imbalance against the southeast, the cleric, however, noted that the situation must be handled with caution in order not to throw the country into crisis.
Commenting on rising insecurity in the country, Yahaya also expressed concern over the increase in the attacks by bandits, especially, the targeting at schools in remote communities in the North West and North East geographical zones, which would likely pose a major setback in the development of education and future of young people who might be forced to drop out of school.
He, then asked for the full implementation of the safe school initiative introduced in 2014 to safeguard the schools and students, just as he also asked the National Assembly to urgently investigate the utilisation of funds meant for the initiative.
