Elders are pleading with the FG to withdraw the military and free the 5,000 IPOB/ESN detained in Anambra

The Igbo Elders Consultative Forum called on the Federal Government to demilitarize the South East immediately and embrace dialogue in order to avoid any security danger to the governorship election in Anambra State on November 6.

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The Igbo Elders Consultative Forum called on the Federal Government to demilitarize the South East immediately and embrace dialogue in order to avoid any security danger to the governorship election in Anambra State on November 6.

The forum also called for the immediate release of nearly 5,000 Igbo youths detained by security forces on suspicion of being members of the Indigenous People of Biafra's Eastern Security Network, emphasizing that doing so would help the peace process and restore normalcy in the region.

Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the Chairman of the IECF and former Governor of Anambra State, revealed these during a news conference in Abuja.

"Our attention has been brought to the increasing militarization of the South East, and the resulting built-up tension and security difficulties in the zone, endangering the smooth conduct of the scheduled November 6, 2021 Anambra State election," Ezeife added.

“The rising insecurity in the South East has taken on a terrifying dimension, and it remains a horrible and troubling conundrum that the Independent National Electoral Committee must address in order for Anambra State to have a free, fair, and credible election.”

"We, therefore, urge on the Federal Government to demilitarize the South East, as well as adopt other essential administrative and non-kinetic measures to restore calm in the zone, opening the way for the scheduled Anambra State election to go off without a hitch," he added.

“Similarly, the Federal Government should immediately release the nearly 5,000 Igbo youths detained by security services and held in dehumanizing conditions in various prison facilities across the country in the name of mystery gunmen, IPOB, and ESN, among others.