Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Body of lawyers of Igbo extraction based in Lagos State, Otu Oka-Iwu Nigeria, has decried the devastating effects of the Monday sit-at-home on the South-East economy.
The legal practitioners accused elected Leaders of abandoning residents of the zone to their fate as the Mondays sit-at-home being enforced by some people seeking the release of the detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, take a toll on the residents.
They challenged South-East Governors to synergise and come up with a solution to the menace.
President of the group, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, in a press conference Tuesday in Lagos, called for an end to the disturbing scenario which has instilled fear in all residents and visitors to the zone.
He regretted that the once-vibrant economy of Ndigbo, had been ruined by sit-at-home.
The lawyers charged the South-East Governors to rise without delay and tackle the root cause of the incessant sit-at-home in the zone for the good of all.
Reading from a prepared speech, the President said: “The sit-at-home conundrum in Igboland on Mondays is now a norm and people believe that if you go out on Mondays you are on your own as there is no guarantee of your returning home safe.
“We appear to have been abandoned by the government that campaigned that we should elect them to protect us. We are using this medium to call on the government to come to our aid in Igboland.
“Igboland has been turned into a killing field where no person old or young is safe. It is the responsibility of the government, both at the centre and the regions, to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants.
“We observe with pains in our hearts the wanton destruction of the Igboland economy. Igboland before now was bubbling with activities from the Onitsha-Nnewi axis through the Aba-Orlu axis.
“Today the story is in the past and this has given rise to a comatose economy without direction and no substance.
“We must all do something to bring back those days of old where the young challenge nature to a wrestling contest for ideas where the young in our communities will surely come out victorious.
“We should go back to the drawing board and discover where we got it wrong before it is too late.
“We are a group that believes in the unity of this great country Nigeria. We have no other country to call our own.”
Igbo lawyers further decried the rot in the education sector in the South-East and called for immediate action to halt the continued fall in the sector.
“Today, the children in Igboland appear to have lost interest in education which is signalling a dangerous trend.
“There was a time it was like a competition as to which of the states will take the first position in the WAEC ranking of states after the examinations.
“Today, what we hear is that our children are showing negative trends to pursue education or they are interested in getting rich through fraudulent activities.
“We call on the governments in Igboland to take action to reverse this unwholesome method before things get worse.”
He advocated massive investment in agriculture as a way out of the current economic doldrum in the zone.
“This is an area that has been neglected in Igboland. Before now, the Igbos were into various farms that yielded food for the people and more for sale.
“It appears we have abandoned the farms and as such hunger is staring us in the face. We should go back to our farms in order to feed our growing population,” he said.
