The youth wing of the pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has called on Igbo youths to use the days slated for the planned nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance to pray to God to heal Igbo land and avert further deaths.
National Youth President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Engineer Damian Okafor, made the call while speaking at the First Ebonyi Youth Summit held at Ecumenical Center, in Abakaliki.
He decried the spate of death of Igbo personalities recorded recently and advised Igbos to approach God in their best ways, and as well shun the planned strike.
“What is happening in ala Igbo currently calls for a sober reflection. Thursday last week, we lost our President-General in the person of His Excellency, Chief Dr. Emmanuel Iwanyanwu, CFR.
“On Saturday, we lost another Igbo son in the person of Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Uba from Anambra State. Yesterday, we lost a very well-known and revered Igbo woman, Onyenekwu Onyeka. This is too much.
“Considering all these, the Igbo youths have been charged to use from 1st August to 10th August to approach God in prayer to heal our land so that our leader will stop dying. Any society without a leader is like a forest without a tree.
“We cannot stand without them; they are the people that are defending us and they are speaking for us. When we continue to miss great men like them, a time will come, Igbo nation will be no place.
“We call on Igbo youths to say no to protest, to stay in their homes and approach God in their best ways. Because of this, we have cancelled the Igbo Day celebration coming up on 29th September this year and we are using this 1st to 10th to mourn them.
“At the same time, President Bola Tinubu has given us the Southeast Development Commission which will help to rebuild ala Igbo from the destruction witnessed in the southeast from the civil war to date. He has also given us local government autonomy and signed the minimum wage into law.
“If you go round ala Igbo, you will see how the Federal Ministry of Works is working on our roads. What will he do for us to show that he loves the Igbo nation? We cannot say less. We are not going to protest. This is my word. Thank you very much,” he said.
