Former presidential aide, Dr Doyin Okupe has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to invite the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for a peace meeting.
In an interview with The Punch, Okupe asked the President to listen to the group’s complaints and see how peace can be restored in the South-East region.
He said: “I call on the Federal Government at this point of our national history to invite the leadership of IPOB to a peace meeting. The Government should listen to the complaints of the youths from the South-East region and see how a true solution can be negotiated.
“I say this as someone who was part of government when Boko Haram was in its wake or infancy. The presumed might of the Federal Government made it look preposterous for the government to call a rag-tag group to a negotiating table.
“Now after more than 10 years, thousands of deaths, human tragedies and millions of internal human displacements, and with billions of dollars down the drain, I am convinced that it was indeed an error not to have negotiated for peace ab initio.
“Historically, since the mid-1900s, no insurgency, once fully established, lasts less than 15 years on average. This is what I will like to remind this administration. Nigeria cannot afford to sustain another major internal rebellion, for another 15 years.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ) chieftain also called for the release of detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in order to restore sanity to Anambra State and the South East.
Okupe noted that the freedom of the IPOB leader was more important than the November 6 governorship election in the state.
He added: “I hereby call on the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu, if that will bring peace in the South-East zone, especially Anambra State. Nnamdi Kanu should be released for the sake of peace and order in that region. Nigerians are in pain. Nigerians are suffering and we can’t afford war whether local, regional or national. We don’t need it. We need peace.
“Nnamdi Kanu is more important than the Anambra State governorship election. We need peace in all parts of this country, and if the release of Kanu will bring peace in Anambra State and the entire South-East zone, please the Federal Government should release him now.”
