The Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, on Sunday called for dialogue with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other aggrieved groups in addressing the agitations in the South-East.
Soludo, who made the call during a programme on Channels Television, Sunday Politics, said noting favourable can be achieved through the use of force.
The governor had last week directed all markets in the state to stop observing the sit-at-home order in the South-East.
IPOB had last year ordered markets and other business outlets in the region to stay at home every Monday in a bid to force the Federal Government to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial for an alleged treasonable felony at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The group had since agreed to cancel the sit-at-home order throughout the region.
Soludo said: “A time comes when you realise that you cannot shoot an ideology with a gun. When you see it exclusively as a law enforcement matter, then you miss the point.
We got to engage them; we got to engage everyone to really understand the root of this.”
The governor also revealed that his administration would establish a truth and reconciliation commission in order to quell the agitations.
He added: “We don’t want to treat all these people as statistics. To the criminals, we are offering an olive branch to repent.
“So, to them, we are also saying ‘We are not condemning you, sin no more. Come out today, surrender those arms, we want to engage you back in society’.
“This is something that we need to engage very seriously and in an open manner to engage everyone, believing that everyone has something to contribute.”
