The Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide has directed that no Igbo group or community in Nigeria or in Diaspora should join protest over economic hardship in the country.
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, gave the directive in a state on Monday in Enugu.
He sais he had received many entreaties from many parts of the country requesting him to call Igbos to join in demonstration and violent action in the country against the government.
“But as your leader, I am directing that no Igbo group or community in Nigeria or diaspora should join any protest against this government.
“I am still studying the situation. I have asked Nigerians who approached me the following questions, what did they do when the past government disfranchised Igbo land,” he asked.
The leader who described the economic crisis in Nigeria was very unfortunate, said Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, would convene a meeting of Igbo top economists and experts in diverse fields to strategize on how to overcome the hardships.
According to him, they will proffer advice to President Bola Tinubu on the economy, adding that the best thing for them as Igbos is to rally round President Tinubu and to do what they can to enable him complete his tenure.
“Igbos are opposed to military rule and prefer a democratic government where we can express our views.
“Youths all over the world are very restive and sensitive to any issue affecting their future. In Nigeria, Igbo youths and youths from other tribes at various times expressed their dissatisfaction with events in the country.
“It is clear to us that when youths from other tribes of the country are involved they are reprimanded and forgiven; but when the Igbo youths are involved they are arrested, incarcerated and even charged for serious offences.
“For example, the arrest and detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu generated a lot of problems for the Igbos. Many Igbos, including Governors, members of the National Assembly, Religious leaders, Traditional Rulers, and Business leaders pleaded with Mr President for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu but without success,” he noted.
He also expressed displeasure that many Igbo youths detained in various Correctional Centres for flimsy excuses.
“For example, there is a case of Eze Fredrick Nwajiagu who has been in detention in Lagos without any justifiable reason.
“Most of the Igbo are in the South-East and the Southeast is very sadly marginalized in all ramifications as they are the only geopolitical zone that has only five states.
“This situation has cost us billions of financial losses. It has also cost us losses in both political appointments and legislative representations. In 2005 and 2014, we raised this issue at various political conferences.
“All men of goodwill at the conference agreed that it was unfair for the Southeast to have only five States and recommended that an additional state be created in the Southeast but up till today, this has not been done,” Iwuanyanwu said.
He said he had severally drawn the attention of the Federal Government to this injustice against the Southeast, stressing that this statement should serve as a notice that if no step was taken by the government and the National Assembly towards the creation of an additional state in the Southeast, he had no choice than to go to Court.
According to him, the 1999 Constitution as amended endorsed a federal character and Igbos by nature would have preferred the free competitive process rather than a federal character paradigm.
“But we realised that Nigeria is a federation comprising so many ethnic nationalities and as part of our sacrifice towards the unity of Nigeria, we accepted the federal character option but unfortunately, it has been used to manoeuvre the Igbo out of most critical positions in government.
“For Example, the former President Muhammadu Buhari openly confessed that he didn’t give us our due because we didn’t vote for him,” he said.