OHANAEZE Ndigbo, an Ndigbo socio-cultural group, has asked the South- East to forget the agitation for Biafra and work towards the restructuring of Nigeria.

John Nwodo, president general of the organisation, who spoke in Umuahia during the inauguration of the state and local government executives of the Abia State chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Thursday, October 5, said:  “We should forget Biafra and insist on restructuring. There is no Igbo person that is happy with the situation of things in Nigeria. We must seek peaceful ways of resolving the issues.”

Nwodo said elders warned Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Independent People of Biafra, IPOB, against the manner he was going about the agitation for Biafra, but he did not listen.

To the Ohanaeze leader, restoration of Biafra was a tall order, given the constitutional roadblocks which, he said, would not be in the overall interest of Ndigbo in their socio-economic and political relationships with other Nigerians.

He said while youths were justified in expressing their anger at Ndigbo’s marginalisation in national affairs, Nwodo said they should moderate their actions and words. Hate speeches would not resolve any problem, Nwodo said.

According to him, Kanu was told that his insistence on Biafra and boycott of the November 18, election in Anambra State were not acceptable to Ndigbo, hence he should abandon his rigid position and join in the quest for restructuring.

Justifying the rationale behind the proscription of the IPOB by the Governors Forum, Nwodo said what the state chief executives did was to stop the IPOB from engaging in its public activities that could spark fatal clashes with security agencies.

He said without the action taken by the governors of the Southeast, that the zone would still have been engulfed in bloodshed, adding that he would not sit by and allow the youth to be cut down prematurely.

– Oct. 6, 2017 @ 17:01 GMT |