Ohanaeze urges Igbos to stay away from June 12 protests

Ohanaeze urges Igbos to stay away from June 12 protests

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, has issued a firm directive advising all Igbos across Nigeria to withdraw from the planned nationwide June 12 Democracy Day protests.

The group said its decision follows credible intelligence suggesting a plot to incite violence and frame Igbos as enemies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

In a press release signed by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Deputy President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the organization announced that no protest activities would be permitted across the seven Igbo-speaking states, citing security concerns, historical grievances, and the government’s continued detention of Igbo political prisoners as reasons for the boycott.

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Part of the statement read: “This is not an act of cowardice, but a necessary strategy to protect Igbo lives and properties. We have seen enough bloodshed. This time, we will not be used as scapegoats.”

Ohanaeze alleged that anti-democratic actors in cities like Abuja, Kaduna, Maiduguri, and Lagos are plotting to hijack the protests and manipulate outcomes to portray the Igbo as instigators of national instability.

The group also decried the perceived injustice in the selective release of political detainees by the federal government while Igbo activists, including Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, remain in detention without due process. They demanded the immediate release of all “Igbo prisoners of conscience” as a precondition for future national engagement.

“No Igbo will join any protests until all our political prisoners are freed and all charges against them dropped,” Isiguzoro declared.

Ohanaeze further urged President Tinubu to use the symbolic weight of June 12 to initiate national reconciliation.

They called for the implementation of the 2014 National Conference recommendations, full electoral reforms, and a transparent 2025 census that includes ethnic and religious data.

“The Southeast is open to dialogue, but not under the threat of violence or continued injustice. The time for true restructuring and reconciliation is now,” the group stated.

Ohanaeze urges Igbos to stay away from June 12 protests