Ohanaeze Ndigbo Urges Inclusion of 1,443 Igbo Militants

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently address the exclusion of 1,443 repentant Igbo militants from the federal government's amnesty program. In a statement, the organization expressed concern that military operations, specifically the Safe Corridor (OPSC), continue to overlook former Biafra agitators from the Igbo ethnic group.

While over 2,600 former combatants have passed through the rehabilitation program since its inception, none of the repentant Igbo militants have been included. Ohanaeze commended the federal government for granting amnesty to 700 repentant insurgents linked to Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, emphasizing the importance of reintegration efforts for national security.

However, they questioned the glaring imbalance in the implementation of the program, highlighting the disturbing trend of marginalization against the Southeast, where hundreds of former terrorists from the North have been rehabilitated while 1,400 repentant Igbo militants remain excluded.