Odimmaigbo Youths Association worldwide has commended all youths of Igbo extraction for listening to the voice of reason and being obedient in their non- participation in the on-going nationwide hunger protest in line with the resolution taken by Ndigbo not to join in the marches.
In a statement, the association headed by Ibeh Chimezie as President, Mazi Tony Anyanwuakpoke as Vice President and Chief Innocent Okoye as patron, said the singular act of staying away from the protest has proved that the Igbo, especially the youths could still act with one voice to prove a point.
The group said since the Igbo had always been the target of every protest in Nigeria, the wise thing Igbo youths did was to stay away from being part of the exercise to disappoint those who had made their evil plans waiting for Igbo to join so as to get them slaughtered or their property looted and or destroyed.
The youths said Igbo usually bore the brunt but have now learnt their lessons.
“The military always goes wild with Igbo youths in any protest, so we decided to stay away from the protest. We shelved it to avoid being the scapegoats.
“We equally asked Igbo youths residing in other geo-political zones of the country to shelve the protest and make sure their properties were protected.
“It is obvious that Ndigbo’s properties may not be protected if they go out for a hunger protest, instead their shops would be looted even as some of them may be hunted down and killed.
“Ndigbo are tired of seeking freedom, relevance and equal treatment in Nigeria. They have not been accorded their proper place in the comity of the Nigerian nation. So, their joining the protest won’t make any difference and the region has also been frustrated with their failed quest to produce Nigeria’s President.
“So, now we have wept enough. We have been shortchanged enough. What else do you want us to do, join the protest? No way. We don’t have to do so. So, we instead remained quiet and started praying to our God. We have handed everything to the hands of God and we know he will answer our prayers,” the association said.
The youths reiterated that there is no need for the Igbo to start making a noise or begin protesting against the government or creating violence, pleading with the rest of Ndigbo to maintain that stand of shunning protests, going forward, because of the way they were badly treated in the past.
Describing people of the South East as industrious and mainly business people, Odimmigbo stressed: “Though Ndigbo are facing the same economic hardship that President Bola Tinubu’s government has imposed on Nigerians, to avoid being targeted as always, Ndigbo decided to shun the protest.
“The protest was organized by other ethnic nationalities to lure the Igbo into destruction.”
Some leaders in the South East had, earlier before the protest, warned Ndigbo to shelve the protest.
One of the leaders and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia state, Ben Kalu, had pointedly asked the Igbo to shun the protest or risk being targeted.
“Ndigbo stay away from the protest. They will target you and they will waste you,” Mr Kalu said in a clip, warning that the Igbo had died enough and should stay out of the protest.
“Sit at home. If there’s any sit-at-home that should be effective, not the one you do on Mondays, let it be the one that will happen in this protest,” Kalu had declared.
The youths have, however, used the opportunity of #EndBadGovernance protest to appeal to the Governors of the South East to make conscious efforts to create jobs for Igbo youths many of whom, they said, are wallowing in penury for want of a job, arguing that when the youths are gainfully employed, the issue of insecurity would be reduced to the barest minimum.
