Ohaneze Ndigbo rules out using force to resolve marginalisation issue opting for dialogue instead

PAN-Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo has ruled out Igbos ever going to war again pointing out that it would rather resolve any constitutional and territorial disputes via diplomatic means.

 

Since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, calls for Ndigbo to secede from Nigeria have been very vocal amid what has been perceived as Igbo marginalisation. of late, the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has led these calls following the arrest and prosecution of its leader Nnamdi Kanu.

 

Mr Kanu has since jumped bail and gone into hiding amid calls by some Igbo youths for a call to arms to resolve the matter military after the Nigerian Army invaded his home in Umuahia. However, Chief Nnia Nwodo, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo president has asked that such thoughts be put on the back burner, with diplomacy allowed to reign.

 

Speaking at the 2018 Igbo International Leadership and Good Governance Retreat held at Abagana, Anambra State, Chief Nwodo said negotiation is the way forward. The retreat was organised by the World Igbo Leadership Council and the World Igbo Information and Communication Network.

 

This event, which was third in the series, was attended by renowned Igbo scholars from Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers states. In 2016, the first retreat was hosted at Ibusa, Delta State, by Professor Pat Utomi, while the second was hosted by Dr Ogbonnaya Onu in 2017 at Uburu in Ebonyi State.

 

Chief Nwodo, who commended the organisers of the annual retreat, said although it was not in doubt that Igbo were facing large scale marginalisation in Nigeria, the way to overcome it was not through fighting another war requiring killing of people at the war fronts but by adopting peaceful means and dialogue. While citing  the issue of state and local government creation in Nigeria in which  he said the Igbo were short-changed, Chief Nwodo noted that such anomalies could  be corrected through dialogue and making other Nigerians to see the need for equity and justice in the Nigeria project.

 

"The military created states and local governments and gave the north the highest numbers, not because our population was the smallest but just part of the marginalisation. However, we should be patient and continue to do what we have already started, knowing that the battle is no longer the type that will be fought with guns, but using intelligence.

 

“We have suffered so much and that is why we should apply diplomacy. One of such diplomatic moves is the planned handshake across the Niger in which Igbo leaders will be dialoguing with Yoruba leaders in Enugu in the coming week,” Chief Nwodo added.

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