Don’t use force on Pro-Biafra protesters use dialogue, or face consequences -Comrade Joseph Evah Ijaw Leader.

The Federal govern­ment has been ad­vised not to use force on pro-Biafra protesters, who have been holding series of demonstrations in some states in the South-east, and South-south geo-political zones of the country.

National Coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, (IMG), Comrade Joseph Evah who made the appeal in Lagos at the weekend noted that the use of force would not only be counter-productive but also worsen the crisis.

His words: “I implore the Federal Government not to contemplate the use of force against Biafran protesters. The use of force will ag­gravate the problem. I urge President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt dialogue approach. It is within the ambit of the constitutional rights of people to protest and demonstrate. What these protesters are doing is not illegal as long as they are not violent or take up arms against the state. But it is better to solve the prob­lem now through dialogue before it worsens. It is bet­ter to jaw-jaw than to war-war,” he declared.

On why he canvassed dialogue option, Evah ex­plained: “The use of force will never work. Force can’t work. It is not the solution because history has shown that at the end of the day, it is dialogue that is em­braced as tool of resolution in many crises. Look at the agitations by the people of Niger-Delta over issues relating to environmental degradation as a result of oil exploration. Initially when the Abacha government murdered late Ken Saro- Wiwa, they thought by do­ing that they would be able to suppress the people, but the reverse was the case as the agitations became more pronounced, and later be­came violent with the mili­tants taking to the creeks before the later former President Umaru Ya’adua’s administration called for dialogue.

“As for the Boko Haram, it started in a little way, but instead of the government of the day to explore the di­alogue option, it failed to do so, and the problem became monstrous. Let our leaders be good students of history, they should not listen to bad advisers. The Biafra protest­ers have some grievances; why not dialogue with their leaders to find a solution to the problem? Federal gov­ernment should be careful about how the case is han­dled,” he said.