By Tony Adibe
The Igbo Women’s Assembly (IWA), a socio-cultural group involving all women of Igbo origin, has alleged that the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government of Nigeria has been treating with kid glove the recent ‘Igbo Must Go’ inciting and provocative campaign being championed by some unpatriotic, ethnic bigots.
“The current Igbo-Must-Go calls by some unpatriotic elements in Lagos State and the way the Federal Government is treating such issue with kid gloves and levity, ” the group said. The National President of IWA, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, made the accusation at the weekend in Enugu during a press conference on “The State of South-East, Ndi Igbo and Recent National Developments.”
The Igbo women group, however, called on President Tinubu to use his executive power to release all political detainees including the detained Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Chief Frederick Nwajagu, among others. The IWA President bemoaned the manner in which the people of Southeast zone are treated during national programmes and events, especially threat and physical assault meted on them during the last 2023 General Elections.
Chimezie said: “We are witnesses and with recorded evidence how, due to divergent political view or alignment by the people of South-East, the likes of M.C. Oluomo and group threatened and physically assaulted our people.
“And the current Igbo-Must-Go calls by some unpatriotic elements in Lagos State and the way the Federal Government is treating such issue with kid gloves and levity.” She noted that the call on the release of all political detainees was predicated on the fact that some other people from other regions did and said grievous things and “they were not incarcerated but treated with kid glove.”
Chimezie noted that it was clear to political watchers that the people of the South-East had been pushed out of the mainstream of national politics.
According to her, for equity to reign, all regions and sections must be fully represented in national politics, adding that “in previous administrations, the southeast region was accorded its rightful place in the scheme of national politics”.
The IWA boss also spoke on the issue of what many regard as too many security checkpoints on the highways in Igboland. She said, “another issue is the militarisation of the South-East even when we are not in a state of war as you can hardly drive between five and 10 minutes in major roads without seeing a military checkpoint.”
She further said: “It is pathetic that these multiple checkpoints have started working against the progress of the region as vehicles spend time on queues and in some checkpoints commuters are meant to alight and trek a distance before rejoining their vehicles.
“While in some checkpoints you see activities of extortion taking place, which further delays those vehicles on the queue. We are demanding the immediate removal of military checkpoints in South-East and replacing them with fewer police checkpoints to ensure traffic flow,” she said.
