Create An Additional State For South-East, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Tells FG

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, an apex Igbo socio-cultural group in Nigeria, on Monday urged the Federal Government to “create an additional state for the South-East and regional autonomy for the Southeastern region”.

According to the group, although the release of the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and the Yoruba Nation lead agitator, Sunday Adeyemo ‘Igboho’, was important, there was a need by the Government to deal with the root causes of agitations in the Southern part of the country.

The Chidi Ibeh-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo stated this in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Chief Okechukwu Isiguzuro, and seen by ABN TV.

Ohanaeze’s statement read, “The Federal Government should expedite actions that will lead to additional state creation for the South-East and granting of full autonomy to federating units of all the regions in the country.

“These are the two best options as political solutions for addressing the activities of Biafra groups and their arrowheads.

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“The releases of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho, from incarceration without addressing the causes of the agitations in Southern Nigeria, will worsen the situation at hand. It will escalate the activities of the agitations. Therefore, the only options for the Federal Government now, are to create an additional state for the South-East and regional autonomy for the Southeastern region through the National Assembly,” Ohanaeze said.

South-East of Nigeria is one of the six geopolitical zones in the country. The region consists of the following states; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. Of the six geopolitical zones, it has the lowest states make-up in Nigeria.