Candidates of major political parties in the Saturday governorship election in Anambra State, have urged the federal government to dialogue with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA’s Professor Charles Soludo; Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)’s
Valentine Ozigbo and Andy Uba of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) called on the federal government to initiate the peace deal ahead of the November 6 governorship election.
They made the call while fielding questions on the issue during a Live Debate organised by Arise Television and monitored by our reporters on Monday.
Valentine Ozigbo, PDP
PDP’s candidate, Ozigbo wants the federal and state governments to take responsibility for allowing what started as a peaceful protest, to degenerate into violence reactions.
He said if both governments had acted promptly by reaching out to the agitators on time, the grievances would have been long resolved.
He said, “The real issue is where is the heart of all of this? If not for the way the states and the federal government have handled IPOB, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
“Let’s start by accepting responsibility. We created extremism, so we need the right person to inspire hope for that dialogue to happen.
“There are certain things IPOB does through agitation that I support. But when they get to some extreme, I condemn them.
“When they see you as the problem already, you can’t be the one to negotiate.”
Andy Uba, APC
Andy Uba blamed the crisis on unemployment, while accusing Governor Willie Obiano of doing little to productively engage the youth.
“I believe in engagement. If you don’t engage them, how will you know what their problem is? I believe in engagement to dialogue, because their problem is work.”
“In 2007 when I ran for governor of Anambra State, I engaged the MASSOB group that was involved.
“I went to visit the leader Ralph Uwazuruike in prison and talked to him about their stance against election in Anambra.
“I said let’s sit down and talk about it, and at the end we got it ironed out and there was election without violence.”
“The problem is unemployment, and that is why the violence is what it is today.”
Charles Soludo, APGA
Soludo said, “I’m on record to have said that IPOB deserves to be heard, that the agitation cannot be shot down by a gun.
“We need to have a dialogue, bring everybody to the table and discuss those specific issues that are their agitation.”
