An Igbo elite body, Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF, has cautioned the Federal Government against the continuous use of force against people seeking self-determination, saying that it never worked anywhere in the world.
“The use of force to deal with those fighting for self-determination has never worked anywhere in the world.
“You can use force to delay the movement of a determined group who want their autonomy in an oppressive federation such as Nigeria, but ultimately the people will someday attain their inalienable right to self-determination.
“The best way to solve the problem is to engage the agitators through dialogue and diplomacy. In South Africa, the apartheid regime was defeated by the African National Congress. In the Soviet Union, state power was defeated to usher in the independence of 15 autonomous republics. The same thing happened in the old Yugoslavia from where six new nation-states emerged.
“Some elements from other mega ethnic-nationalities such as the Igbo and Yoruba felt that the time has come to assert their own right to self-determination.
Moreover, The UN in 2007 passed a resolution affirming the rights of ethnic nationalities to exercise their rights to Self-determination”, ADF said in a statement by its spokesman Chief Abia Onyike.