* Mulls peaceful protest against persecution of its leaders
The Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) has sensationally alleged that the South-East geo-political zone is under a siege, insisting that it is part of a grand plot to stymie it out of the 2023 presidential race.
The group said the political siege on the zone became obvious following the “harassment and intimidation” of some voices in the zone by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
The President General of COSEYL, Mr. Goodluck Ibem, made the assertion in a statement he jointly issued on Monday with the Secretary, Mr. Kanice Igwe.
He specifically referred to the recent sealing of a family property of the former governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, describing it as “intimidation of notable political leaders from the zone by the EFCC.”
According to the youth leaders, these actions by the EFCC are a clear indication that the zone is under a siege.
The statement further decried the manner in which another top Igbo politician, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, was “hurriedly tried and wrongfully imprisoned, while some other prominent people from the zone are facing different kind of political harassment just to blacklist the zone’s presidential ambition.”
They argued that the onslaught on Senator T.A Orji should be viewed as a war declared against the zone, hence he called on the people of the zone to “rise against the political marginalization”.
“It is very shocking and sad that of the six geopolitical zones in the country, only the South-East political leaders are being targeted for prosecution. Others who served at the same time with their South-east counterparts are moving about freely without any harassment, arrest or sealing of their properties. It smacks of political blackmail that South-east leaders alone are paraded or tagged by the current administration as corrupt.
They catalogued the woes of the zone as follows: “Recently, the Federal government took a foreign loan of $22.7 billion for infrastructural development, as we were told. Out of the whopping sum of money, no project was budgeted for South-east even when some states in the zone produce oil, which accounts for the country’s revenue, and which will add up to service the loan in the long run.
“Without mincing words, it appears that only intimidation, pain and harassment are directed to the South-east zone while democracy dividends are directed to other zones.
“During the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, when responsible and responsive governments all over the world gave palliatives to all its citizens, palliative and cash transfer meant for all zones were shared to only the northern states, leaving the South-easterners to their own fate.
“Northerners living in the South-east zone, to the knowledge of COSEYL, got palliatives and cash transfer from the Federal government social investment programme, while the people of South-east got nothing from the Federal government in the name of palliative. The marginalization and intimidation of the zone is totally unacceptable to us in COSEYL,” the group declared.
Thus, Ibem disclosed that COSEYL would organise a peaceful protest in each State of the zone, against the alleged intimidation of Senator Orji and others in the zone.