The Presidency on Monday said it was unfair for the Igbo group, Ohanaeze, to blame the recent unrest in the South East on the Federal Government.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists.
Ohanaeze had in response to the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day broadcast said the present administration’s anti-Igbo policies fueled agitations in the region.
But Shehu urged the group of Igbo leaders to see themselves as partners with the Federal Government in promoting peace and stability in the country.
The presidential spokesman said Buhari’s message to all community leaders, that include the Ohanaeze, in his broadcast was that they have a huge role to play in what happens in their communities and in how their youths behave.
He said, “President Buhari was not abdicating his responsibilities. He didn’t request any political leader to do anything seminal or out of the box. All he said is, ‘talk to your out-of-the-line-youth so that we have some peace.’
“Igbo leaders need not to be on the defensive for the misbehaviour of the IPOB which they rightly condemned.
“The President was simply saying that the regional leaders also have a role to play in keeping their hot-headed youths in check.”
Shehu said the President’s admonition also applied to leaders of every other region of the country, and not only the Ohanaeze from the South East.
According to him, elders from every region must step out and speak up whenever their youths go out of line, such as when the IPOB launched what he called unspeakable diatribes against other groups of people in other parts of the country and then started to threaten violence.
“President Buhari was simply calling out the regional leaders to their responsibilities, making them aware of the crucial role they can play. This should not be seen as an attack on the Ohanaeze or on any other regional leaders,” he said.
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