By COLLINS OSUJI, Owerri

The Presidency has been advised to desist from adopting the media trial and propaganda approach to incite Nigerians and the international community against Ndigbo.

Members of Igbo Community Leaders Network (ICON), after their meeting in Owerri, Imo State, at the weekend, urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to concentrate on proving the allegations against the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in the criminal trial already in court, instead of profiling the Igbo.

The group, in a statement signed by its South East Regional Coordinator, Survival Nwachinaemere, and Secretary, Chief Chukwubuikem Udokanma, was particularly irked by the allegation credited to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, that IPOB killed Dr. Chike Akunyili and 175 security agents.

“The Federal Government should investigate, articulate and publish the number of bandits and/or unknown gunmen arrested and are being prosecuted in court, for the attack on Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, which led to the killing of military officers, including an officer of Igbo extraction; the attack on military establishments in Niger State; and the attack on the Correctional Centre in Oyo State, among others.

“By empirical evidence, investment and development patterns, most Nigerians will agree that Ndigbo are the most hospitable and detribalised people in Nigeria, who believe in true unity of the country, based on equity, justice and fair treatment for all,” it stated.

ICON claimed that Malami was already prosecuting the IPOB matter in court and wondered why the AGF adopted media trial and conviction, instead of concentrating on the legal aspect."

It added: “The Federal Government is aware that the unknown gunmen perpetrating these criminal atrocities in the South East, killing prominent Igbo people and destroying police and INEC infrastructure are the state-sponsored fifth columnists and killer herdsmen. They are acting under the protection of the Nigerian security agencies. They are already at work in Anambra State, planning to frustrate the forthcoming governorship election, so as to blame it on Kanu.

“The false allegations point to the fact that the Federal Government is merely attempting and struggling to manufacture evidence to portray Kanu, IPOB, and, by extension, all Igbo as terrorists, to have a justification to carry out an already planned military attack against Ndigbo. But whenever an Igbo man is unfairly, unjustly and inequitably treated in the Nigerian project, it usually reminds him of the Biafran struggle.

“We are equally aware that Buhari’s present military leadership approach in a democratic Nigeria is gradually leading Nigeria to collapse, without him knowing it.” (The Guardian)

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