The apex Igbo socio cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on
Tuesday declared that Nigeria was not the North’s conquered territory.
Ohanaeze condemned the northern leaders’ opposition to calls
for the restructuring of the country, insisting that “all sections of the
country are joint and equal partners.”
President General of Ohanaeze, Nnia Nwodo, while addressing
journalists after a National Executive Committee meeting at Ohanaeze
Secretariat in Enugu, said northern leaders were acting as if Nigeria was their
conquered territory.
Ohanaeze particularly frowned at the rejection of the
recommendations of the 2014 constitutional conference by a group of northern
leaders, led by Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu.
“Some northern leaders, in their utterances, give the
impression that our nation is their conquered territory. God forbid!
“We should all be joint and equal partners in a common bid
to build a united, virile and strong country.
“Not too long ago, a group of northern leaders met in Abuja
and through their spokesperson, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, made very strong views
on the national discourse.
“They first of all distanced themselves from the conclusions
of the 2014 constitutional conference, describing their treatment at the
conference as intimidating and claiming to have been under-represented and
therefore advised the present Federal Government and the National Assembly not
to, in any way, take the conclusions of that conference seriously.
“They also condemned any suggestion to restructure the
federation, insisting that our present structure must remain.
“The position of the northern leaders in the Abuja meeting
when compared to some Federal Government policies give us reason for serious
apprehension,” Nwodo said.
Nwodo further warned that if the North was disassociating
itself from the outcome of the confab based on the claim that the region was
under-represented, the Igbo would also excuse themselves from the 1979 and 1999
constitutions, which he said were prepared by mostly northern military
officers.
He insisted that “Our federation is out of sync with all
known definitions of a federation. The need for restructuring is so obvious
when Kano with 9.5 million people has 44 local governments and Lagos with 9.1
million has 20 local governments. Bayelsa has only eight local governments.”
Nwodo added that the Igbo leaders were constituting a
committee of Senior Advocates of Nigeria of the Ohanaeze states to take the
Federal Government to court over the “patently discriminating attitude towards
the South-East and the South-South” in presidential appointments.
He hinted that the suit filed by Chief Olisa Agbakoba,
(SAN), could be amended to include fresh issues raised by the Ohanaeze.
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