Igbo leaders in the 19 Northern states and Abuja under the auspices of Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday finally made their position clear on agitations from the Southeast, saying the clamour by people from the zone is about restructuring Nigeria and not about separation.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo implicitly denounced the indigenous people of biafra, a militant group led by Nnamdi Kanu, which has been playing drums of secession and creating sectional unrest in the country.
“We want justice, equity and fairness to ethnic nationalities”, the Igbo leaders declared during a visit to the leadership of the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) to seek mutual collaboration among the people from that part of Kaduna State.
Speaking at SOKAPU’s headquarters on Tuesday, the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the 19 Northern states and Abuja, Chief Austine Amaechi, said, “We have faith in one Nigeria; we don’t want to leave. Our agitation is not for Biafra but for justice, fairness and equity.
“We want a Nation that is fair to all the ethnic nationalities, we want to partner with the people of Southern Kaduna in order to built relationship across the Niger”.
Responding, SOKAPU president, Solomom Kaptain Musa, disassociated the people of Southern Kaduna from the quit noticed issued the Igbos by Northern youths, even as he noted that “Igbo people have been living in peace in our land without any trouble.
“We in Southern Kaduna desire restructuring, we desire the full implementation of the 2014 CONFAB report, we desire Gurara State,” he added.
He lashed out at the federal government for failing to arrest the Northern youths who asked the Igbos residing in the North to leave the region, adding “it appears there are secret cows in the Nigeria project.”
Musa said the people of Southern Kaduna are ever ready to partner with any ethnic nationality in order to ensure the restructuring of Nigeria, adding thatv“Nigeria belongs to all of us and there must be justice and equity to other ethnic nationalities”.