The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has called on the Federal Government to deploy officers and men of the Armed Forces to farms, road construction sites and engage them for city beautification purposes if there are no more defence jobs for them, rather than using them to cause undue panic in the polity.

The group’s spokesman, Chuks Ibegbu, who stated this in the backdrop of the proposed Operation Python Dance 3 in the South-East, wondered why the operation is being planned when the zone was experiencing peace, warning against intimidation of innocent citizens under any guise.

Ibegbu said: “Nigeria Army should by now be producing medium range missiles and ammunitions for which Nigeria is spending billions of naira that should have been used to develop the country.

“Rather, they produce only salt and light weapons at DICON and spend the rest of their time intimidating innocent Nigerians. We need a peoples’ army and security agencies and not intimidators.

“Let the Army go and produce food for its personnel in Army farms and sell the rest to Nigerian citizens.”

On the arrest of some female loyalists of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Owerri, Ibegbu warned against harming any of the women as according to him, they had committed no offence to warrant such arrest.

He continued: “Which IPOB did they say they proscribed because I’m aware there is an IPOB headed by Justice Eze Ozobu.

“In as much as our position is the restructuring of Nigeria, there is no justification for harassing and arresting unarmed peaceful women for expressing their lawful and fundamental rights, even if we do not agree with them.”

Ibegbu therefore called for their immediate release and apologies to be tendered to them from the concerned authorities for their unlawful arrests and detention.