… sympathize with families of victims of Lekki shootings
Samuel Ugbor, Abakaliki
The South-East Governors’ Forum, National Assembly members and other leaders in the region, on Thursday night, called on all ethnic nationalities in the country to continue to maintain mutual peace in the face of recent challenges ocassioned by the ongoing protests across the country.
The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi, stated this in Abakaliki, while briefing journalists on the outcome of their virtual meeting, on Thursday.
The leaders condemned in strong terms a video clip currently trending on the social media, in which the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was alleged to have made provocative statements, said to have further aggravated the protests.
They observed that Kanu had already disowned the video and called on the State Governments of other tribes to ensure the safety of Igbos in their domain as much as they would protect theirs, in Igbo land.
The leaders further condemned unwarranted killing of peacefully protesting youths at the Lekki Tollgate, Lagos and urged the federal government to quicken investigation into the matter so as to immediately bring culprits to book in line with the laws of the land.
According to Umahi, “While we are sympathising with the Lagos State Government and others who have lost their citizens in the protests, we appeal to the youths in the country to disembark from the protests, it has been hijacked by hoodlums.
“While we equally maintain that the demands of the #EndSARS protesters have been met by Governments of many States, we advise youths to constructively engage with government towards meeting other genuine demands of theirs.”
Governor Umahi qouted the South-East leaders as further appealing to Nigerian youths to desist from destroying public Infrastructures and facilities, according to them, were established for their benefits as leaders of tomorrow.
Umahi, however, advised his fellow governors to bring the youths close enough to governance for them to begin to appreciate the gains and enormous challenges in leadership, saying, “We appeal to the youths to forgive their leaders wherever they have failed them, because we will go back to the drawing board.”
The virtual meeting, according to Governor Umahi, was constituted of Givernors of the zone, the traditional rulers, the clergy, the National Assembly members and other eminent leaders of the region
