A frontline industrialist, Mr Godwin Ezeemo, has called on the pro-Biafra protesters to have a re-think of their actions and consider its consequences on the generality of the Igbo residing in different parts of the country and tread with caution.
He said grounding businesses in the South East, destroying properties of their brothers, and preventing women from fending for their families, among other negative implications of violent protests, do not give credibility to their call, rather dialogue and diplomacy must be employed in resolving any issue of interest, not war or confrontational principle.
Ezeemo said that 99.9 per cent of the people parading themselves today as pro- Biafra crusaders and going about their agitation in a violent manner did not see or experience the 1967- 1970 Nigerian civil war and as such do not know the consequences of their action.
He called on the protesters to go home and ask their parents, uncles, war veterans in their various localities what it means to incite war and its benefits. “There is nothing good that will come out of conflict, confusion, crisis, not to talk of war where every where will be in comatose.
“Native intelligence must be applied in every frontier of Igbo existence so as to achieve the resounding progress we need to leave behind for upcoming generations, not destroying the empire we managed to build after the civil war.
“Igbo are very much blessed and loved exceedingly by God, no country anywhere in the world had recovered half what that Igbo had after going through the turbulent sea of war, we need to be grateful to God for this grace,” he said.
Ezeemo said the Igbo should be wiser in handling its affairs so as to ensure that all the efforts of our nationalists do not go in vain, Nigeria is for all and we cannot after much sacrifices lose out due to unplanned and uncoordinated programmes.
He said the Igbo should borrow a leaf from the manner in which the Yoruba handled their case during the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election and ensure that we do not inflict injury on ourselves in the course of fighting for our rights.
Ezeemo urged the protesters to shelve any violence mechanism and go back to the elders who know better for advice and techniques on solving the impasse, while urging the government to wade into the reasons for agitation and for resolution as the country was going through lots of economic and insecurity crises.
National Mirror