Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Mr Emeka Anyaoku, has said that the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, is responsible for Monday’s Sit-at-home in the South East.
Anyaoku disclosed this on Saturday in his country home, Obosi village of Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra during a courtesy visit by Mrs Joy Mbachi, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Awka State Correspondent.
Anyaoku, who noted that the Sit-at-home is a bane to the economy, called on the government to address the root cause of it.
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“The sit-at- home is doing great damage to the economy of the SouthEast region, I do not support the idea, I think it is doing great damage to the economy. We have to deal with the root cause of sit-at-home, which is the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu.
“Not with standing the fact that the court of law had ordered his released, that word gives those who advocate and participate in sit-at-home the reason for doing so.
“I think that the cause of the sit-at-home should be addressed, I do not think that the sit-at-home should be maintained, it should be stopped,” he suggested.
He also noted that the current Nigerian constitution would not adequately address the nation’s economic predicaments and other myriad of challenges.
He said the current challenges being faced in the nation like poverty, insecurity, and dilapidated infrastructure among others were serious challenges bedevilling the country.
“I am on record for saying that these challenges can not be effectively addressed under the constitution and governance system we have at the moment.
“We can not effectively address these challenges that have assumed a nationwide dimension especially insecurity which has parveded the Northern part of the country and other communities” he said.
He stressed that the current constitution was a departure from the constitution that the nation’s founding fathers negotiated and agreed upon.
“The constitution for a pluralistic state as Nigeria, we have to return to those principles of the constitution as earlier agreed by our founding fathers.
“Until we do that, I am afraid that we can not effectively deal with the challenges facing the nation,” he added.
On the Ito-Ogoto traditional event that was being celebrated every three years in the community, he observed that those who attained the age of 80 years were celebrated.
He added that the Igbo culture respects age, because it was believed that age brings wisdom.
