The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has said Igbos will leave Nigeria when they choose to.
This was contained in a statement issued by the group’s spokesperson, Alex Ogbonnia, while reacting to a suit filed by the coalition of Northern groups seeking the exit of the South-East from Nigeria.
In its response, Ohanaeze said the Igbos would leave the country whenever they wanted to.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo
It further argued that no person or group had the right to act superior to another in Project Nigeria.
A statement from the group said, “Because no group has right whatsoever to ask another to go or to ask another to leave Nigeria, Igbos have as much right in Nigeria as any other ethnic group. And to that extent, Igbos will leave Nigeria only when they wish to do so but not on the instrumentality of another group.
“On the other hand, Igbo has sacrificed much more than any other group for the corporate existence of Nigeria. I repeat, Igbos have sacrificed much more than any other group for the corporate existence of Nigeria and it is not in doubt.”
“So, if any group should talk about ownership of the country it is those who have sacrificed more.”
The group said the indigenes of Nigeria are largely Igbos, Yorubas and others while some of “these coalitions come from distant places in West-Africa”.
“They are indeterminate. They are not even known.”
Recall that the coalition of Northern Groups filed a case asking the court to compel the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives to hasten the exit of the South-eastern region out of Nigeria.
They pleaded that this should be done before the conclusion of the ongoing amendment to Nigeria’s constitution.
The secession request was contained in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/538/2021 instituted by the group of elders and politicians from the North led by Nastura Shariff, Balarabe Rufa’I, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman and Aminu Adam.
In their suit, they argued allowing the Igbo to secede would end violence and destruction in the South-East.
They also explained that this will stop the repeat of the 1967 to 1970 civil war in Nigeria that led to wanton destruction of lives and property.
The coalition also said this would put an end to the agitations by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra led by Nnamdi Kanu.
They prayed for, among others, a declaration that combined effect of the provisions of Section 4 of the Nigerian constitution and Articles 1, 2, and 20(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004, the National Assembly, sued as the fourth defendant “is empowered to set in motion a framework for a referendum to allow the South-eastern region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to decide on their bid for self-determination.”
