By Godwin Okeh, Abakaliki

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement South East, Mrs Chioma Nweze on Thursday has called on the youths of the region to shun the planned nationwide protest scheduled to hold 1st August, 2024.Nweze who made this known in a statement signed and issued to newsmen, urged the youths to dialogue with the federal government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, rather than embarking on protest.

The statement reads in part: “I am compelled to urgently address the impending nationwide protest being planned by some Nigerians against the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and passionately urge all South East indigenes to shelve plans of embarking on any action that could plunge the region into chaos and worsen the precarious security situation in the zone. ”We acknowledge the genuine concerns and agitations of Nigerians under the globally plummeting economy, it is no news that unscrupulous elements have hijacked and misdirected initial, genuine and well-intended protests in the recent past, with the ENDSARS protest of 2020 as a poignant painful example.”Against all odds, President Tinubu’s deeds and words have shown how committed his administration has been to the welfare of citizens. Direct initiatives principally targeted at South Easterners abound, including the recent presidential assent to the South East Development Commission bill which is a clear roadmap for targeted interventions to promote economic growth, infrastructure and social welfare in the zone.”The South Eastern youth population must therefore be careful not to lend themselves as sacrificial lambs and docile tools in the hands of enemies of state who have set Igbos up in the past, at immense cost to human lives and economic activities in the zone as well as relationships with other ethnic divides.”On the strength of the above, I hereby fervently call on NDIGBO at home and in diaspora and our youths to refrain from participating in the nationwide march slated from August 1 to 10, 2024 and instead, give Mr President time to implement his well-intended policies for our region and country in general.”I further call on traditional rulers, religious leaders and parents to rise to the responsibility and expectations of their roles in shielding their subjects and offspring, respectively from the impending tsunami of violence on our doorsteps” she stated.