The South-East Council of Traditional Rulers and notable Christian leaders asked the Federal Government on Sunday to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, and cease the murders and damage in the region.
Kanu has been held in a secret police prison facility in Nigeria since June, following his unprecedented rendition, which sparked a wave of upheaval in the South East.
It was also said to have led to the deaths of many innocent civilians, as well as the damage of businesses and social activities in the area.
In a joint statement on Sunday, the South-East Council of Traditional Rulers and representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops asked the Federal Government to de-militarise the region.
According to them, the militarization of the region culminated in the deaths of Igbo youths and the burning of villages by troops.
They said that the increased inequity and marginalization of Ndigbo in the Nigerian scheme of things during the presidency of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) remained at the root of the region’s young unrest.
They warned that until the Federal Government took deliberate steps to run a government on the basis of fairness, equity, justice and non-discrimination ‘this restiveness is likely to continue’.