Alleged Marginalization: South, Middle Belt Form Southern Elders Forum Like Northern Elders Forum

In a concerted efforts to bring to an end maginalization of the Southern Nigeria in the scheme of things, the Southern Nigeria, has formed ‘Southern Elders’ Forum’ made up of selected elder states men, from the southern states and the middle belt to play the role of defending the course of the south henceforth.

President of the Ohaneze Indigbo Worldwide, Chief Iwanyanwu in a press statement Thursday, said that the men selected, are to ensure that the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu apportions equity and justice to all Nigerians.

Chief Iwanyanwu, said, “even when we have nothing against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I wish on behalf of Ndigbo Worldwide to express our thanks to our great Leader chief E.K. Clark for rising at all times in fighting injustice wherever he perceived it.

“For the avoidance of doubt, South-south, South-west and South-east have formed alliances. We have formed a union of Southern Nigeria and the Leaders therein are as follows, Chief E.K Clark and Emmanuel Essien (South-south), Pa Ayo Adebanjo of Afenifere (South-west), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Ohanaeze (South-east).

“We have unanimously accepted the leadership of the two oldest leaders of the group Chief E.K Clark and Pa Ayo Adebanjo.

“We later formed a union of Southern and Middle belt leaders’ forum. The leader of MiddleBelt is Dr. Pogu Bitrus. By this Union, Chief Edwin Clark is authorised to speak on any part of Southern and Middle belt of Nigeria”.

The Ohaneze Indigbo President General, reminded that in an effort to end the plague, sometime in 2023, that he reported the high level of marginalization of igbos to this forum of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders,

“This marginalization is very clear from the following points; South-east is the only Geo-political zone in Nigeria that has got only Five States whereas other zones have between six and seven States

“Forty-Eight Ministers were appointed by Mr President. By law of Federal Character, Southeast should have Eight Ministers but we have only Five Ministers while some other zones have up to Ten.

“All the efforts to develop railway infrastructure in Nigeria, nothing was done in the South-east in spite of the fact that our people are traders who travel a lot.

Meanwhile, Chief Iwanyanwu, has Decries the non-release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who has been incarcerated for many years noting that every effort to plead his release met with failure, while many other Nigerians arrested and accused of similar offense have all been released.

He said with reference to the Federal Character Commission, the presidency is zoned to rotate North and South instead of rotating through six geo-political zones. This he observed has made it impossible for Southeast to produce a president when two large zones come together to deny Southeast the opportunity, when the presidency was zoned to the South.

” To this effect, the Southern and Middle-Belt met, deliberated and resolved to zone it to the southeast in their own opinion, Justice demanded that it should be zoned to the southeast; they therefore zoned it to the southeast. Later on southwest candidate emerged in APC being the political party in power.

“Southern and Middle-Belt leaders’ forum resolved to support an Igbo candidate. This is how the support for Peter Obi came up. From the result of the election, Mr Peter Obi won clearly in Lagos, Delta, Abuja and many other places including the Middle-Belt. I must confess that the Southern and Middle-Belt leaders’ forum has nothing against Mr President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They were convinced in all honesty that it was the turn of the Southeast to produce the President.

“When the result was announced His Excellency Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner, and the Southeast candidate went to Court to seek redress. However, as the Supreme Court of Nigeria affirmed Mr President’s victory, as law-abiding citizens, who believe in the rule of law, we congratulated His Excellency Mr President and promised to give him every support he requires to rebuild Nigeria for good.

“It might interest anyone who cares to know that we have manifested this in practical terms. For example, when many parts of Nigeria were going on demonstration, Southeast was approached to join but as a leader of southeast, I made a proclamation telling my people not to join and they harkened to my voice and never joined the protest. We in the Southeast have made substantial investments in many parts of the country and it is in our interest to assist Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to succeed. Any failure by Mr President would be a calamity to Igbos who have made huge investments in many places in the country.

“We sincerely expect the government to reciprocate this gesture by attending to some of our problems. I had at one of our meetings of the Southern and Middle-Belt leaders’ forum brought up the problems of obvious marginalization of my people by the Federal Government and the forum expressed their sympathy to the Igbos. I remember vividly a communique was issued at one of this meetings calling for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu whose continued detention is causing problems in the Southeast.

“After the 2023 general election, we experienced the worst situation which after Peter Obi won in Lagos, Abuja and some other States a group of people held a meeting and boasted that they will cripple Igbos and make sure they don’t succeed in business and politics. The activities of this group were glaringly obvious in Lagos where after Mr Peter Obi’s victory in Lagos State, every effort was made to stop Igbos from voting. At times violence was used to stop them. Igbos were abused and threatened to Leave Lagos.

Some markets in Lagos state dominated by Igbos were either closed down or demolished. I held a meeting with the leadership of Lagos State, I am happy the matter had slowed down.

An Igbo man, HRH Eze Nwajiagu who was arrested in Lagos State for no justifiable reason is still in detention in Lagos. His only offence was the statement he made which if the same statement was made by persons of other tribes, would not be taken seriously. We expect Mr. President to look into this matter to forestall future occurrences.

We also woke up one morning In Abuja to hear that a spiralling estate owned by an Igbo man Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu (Ikukuoma) had been demolished. This matter had been reported to me. I requested all relevant information regarding the demolition. From my findings due process of law was not taken before this demolition. We also appeal to Mr. President to investigate this case of demolition of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu’s estate in Abuja.

“Having said this, we must thank Mr. President His Excellency Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for appointing one of our very intelligent and reliable sons Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla Chief of Naval Staff Federal Republic of Nigeria. We are convinced that by the grace of God, he will do well. The reports I have received from the public show he is doing well.

The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Engr. Dave Umahi FNSE from all indications is doing very well, I congratulate him”.