The Association of South East Town Unions (ASETU), yesterday, announced that it would hold an emergency security retreat in Enugu to discuss the rising security challenges in the zone following the recent EndSARS protests across the country.
In a press statement by the National President and the National Secretary of the union, Chief Emeka Diwe and Mr.Gideon Adikwuru, respectively, ASETU disclosed that the two-day event will begin on Friday.
ASETU restated its commitment to mutual respect and love among all the ethnic nationalities in the country.
The statement further stated that the group would continue to respect the diversities of the country and to relate with all ethnic formations with mutual dignity, stressing that any other insinuations to the contrary were totally ‘un-Igbo.’
‘’As the umbrella association of all the Town Unions in Igboland, we have an obligation of rising to the occasion to stem the tide of this incendiary turn of an otherwise peaceful protest organized by Nigerian youths to express their displeasure over police brutality. The Town Union system, historically, has been the fulcrum of peace, development, and prosperity of the Igbo Nation, and the closest administrative units to the Igbo grassroots.
‘’It is on record that the Town Unions were the bastion for the massive reconstruction of facilities and infrastructure in defunct Eastern Nigeria following the end of the Civil War. Health institutions, roads, bridges, markets, and other projects which were rapidly brought back to life are a testimony to the efficacy of Town Unionism. The reconstruction of primary and post-primary schools, and the building and equipping of new ones, were effectuated by the Town Unions.
‘’In view of the foregoing, ASETU has put arrangements in place for a 2-day emergency security retreat, so as to bring all Igbo communities, leaders, and stakeholders together to reflect aloud on the challenges facing our people as a result of the fallout of the End SARS Protests. This retreat will be held at the Universal Hotels, Enugu, between November 19 and November 20, 2020.
“Finally, we wish to state that the Igbo are and will remain very hospitable and peaceful in our interactions with the other ethnic formations in Nigeria. We respect the diversities of the country and will continue to relate with everyone with mutual dignity. Any insinuation to the contrary, or any conduct by a few among us, which may seem to present our people as belligerent, antagonistic, and mindlessly expansionist, is not just un-Igbo, but more fundamentally, it is anti-Igbo”,
the statement said.
