Ohanaeze to Tinubu: Address marginalization of South East region now

IBRAHIM QUADRI and VICTOR DURUAMAKU, Owerri

The President-General Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Dr Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to as a matter of urgency address the the long standing marginalization of the South East geo-political zone at the federal level saying that elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has been authorized to speak for the Southern leaders.
This was contained in a statement personally signed by Chief Iwuanyanwu which was made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
The elder statesman noted that the forum of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders had also acknowledged the marginalization of the South East zone in the national scheme of things.
He listed several issues amongst them the continued detention of the the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying several efforts to ensure his release has yielded no result.
He further pointed out that only the South East out of the six geo-political zones in the country has five states while others have between six and seven states.
The statement read in part, “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 Middle Belt 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 elder statesman highlighted since 2023, the marginalization I reported about the lgbos: 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 10.
“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.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been incarcerated for many years and every effort to plead his release met with failure, while many other Nigerians arrested and accused of similar offense have all been released.”
He further stated, “According to the Federal Character Commission, the Presidency is zoned to rotate North and South instead of rotating through six geo-political zones. This has made it impossible for South-east to produce a president when two large zones come together to deny South-east the opportunity.
“The Presidency was zoned to the South. 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 South-east to produce the President.
“When the result was announced His Excellency Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner, the South-east 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, South-east 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 South-east 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.”
He therefore appealed to the government to reciprocate this gesture by attending to some of the grievances.

Iwuanyanwu is healthy — Media Aide

Meanwhile, Special adviser to the President-General , Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ben Osuagwu has cleared the anxiety over the state of health of the President- General saying he is healthy
According to him, “my attention was drawn to the ridiculous information by one Obinna Akukwe saying that the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu fell sick after visiting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the DSS custody.”
He said categorically that the report has no iota of truth, describing It as, ” fictitious, coloured imagination by the writer to attract readership to his wall/platform.”
Osuagwu said further, “the report is one of the dangers of relying so much on Social Media without thorough investigation”, pointing out that a professional journalist will dig deep to ascertain the veracity of hearsay before going to the public because he knows that his image is at stake.”
He explained that Chief Iwuanyanwu wasn’t feeling well before his trip to Abuja, but because of the continued disturbing incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is one of his sons, he decided to go to Abuja to see him not minding his health challenges coupled with other scheduled engagements.
Osuagwu advised that people should be weary of what they push out to the public so as to maintain their readers more so when such misguided wicked report comes from those who call themselves Pastors/Reverends.