Candidate of the United
Progressive Party (UPP) in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election, Osita
Chidoka, has said the governors of the South East states should have conducted
an opinion poll to feel the pulse of the people before proscribing the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He also slammed the governors for
what he termed failure of leadership in their handling of issues relating to
the Biafra agitation.
Chidoka, who spoke while fielding
questions during an radio interview, also rejected the military’s declaration
of IPOB as a terrorist group.
Faulting the military, he said it
was not in a position to declare IPOB a terrorist organization, without
following certain established legal actions.
He said: “From a leadership
perspective, it would be good on the part of the governors to do something to
stem what was going on with the military, but in terms of the proscription of
IPOB, the governors went beyond their mandate; they went beyond their legal
capacity.
“All they needed to have done, if
they were listening to the wishes and aspiration of the people of the southeast
was that, instead of calling for a meeting with Nnamdi Kanu, they should have
conducted an opinion poll to find out what the issues were.
“The question to the people
should have been, ‘What do you want us to tell the federal government that you
feel Nnamdi Kanu is saying that we are not saying?’
“Then the governors should be
able to seek audience with the President or the vice President and say ‘these
are the issues’.
“I believe that the failure of
leadership on the part of the governors of the southeast became glaring to the
whole country and their effort at announcing a proscription was beyond their
legal limits. They should have used it as a basis to aggregate the views and
channeling them appropriately.
“To declare an organization a
terrorist organization requires certain legal action to be taken. Those legal
actions were not taken. The military is not in the position to declare an
organization a terrorist organization. So I think, fundamentally, the
declaration was an act in futility.
“First and foremost, I think that
government should follow the due process of the law to criminalize the activity
of any group including IPOB if it violates the law of the country of Nigeria.
“Once they do that, then they
will go to the next stage of getting the police to enforce that law. If in
enforcing the law, the organization turns into an insurrection, then you can go
back to the military. Anything short of that is unconstitutional and an action
in futility”, he said.
Chidoka further called for
auditing of the activities of the military, saying such would help de-escalate
the tension in the region.
“Now that this military action
has happened, it is critical that we audit what happened. It is important that
the claims of death and killings and no death and no killings need to be
audited.
“That auditing mechanism that we
have in the National Assembly; that ability to go back and look at what has
transpired is important for us to deescalate the tension in the land.”
Chidoka, insisted that rule of
law and dialogue, rather than force and subjugation of voices hold the answers
to the agitations not only in the south east but among other groups in the
country.
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yes i concur.
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