Obi of Onitsha gives support for restructuring of Nigeria

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Obi of Onitsha gives support for restructuring of Nigeria

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Obi of Onitsha and chairman of Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Alfred Achebe has thrown his weight behind the need to restructure Nigeria.
Igwe Alfred Achebe

Igwe Alfred Achebe

Igwe Achebe, in a lecture in Awka yesterday as part of activities marking the 25th anniversary of the creation of Anambra State, said that the prevailing situations and challenges across Nigeria had necessitated a review of the governance structure of the country.Pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, recently lambasted Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, for opposing restructuring.In the lecture titled, “Think Nigeria, Invest in Anambra”, the Igwe said the growing support for restructuring, including ethnic nationalities and prominent individuals, was a clear sign that many Nigerians believe in the idea.He recalled that former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar said that restructuring would make governance less centralized, less suffocating and less dictatorial.He also recalled that the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alhaji Dahiru Musdafar, recently made the call when he noted that the 2015 presidential election further divided the country along ethnic, religious, regional and partisan lines.Similarly, Igwe Achebe added that many ethnic groups, including those in the Niger Delta, as well as the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, were demanding cessation over the existing imbalances in the country.He said: “The youths in the South East feel that they have been constitutionally marginalized compared to their counterparts in other regions. They feel that the present configuration perpetually puts them at great disadvantage, hence their demand to opt out of Nigeria.“MEND in the Niger Delta also argues that the resources from their area are controlled by a very strong federal government in Abuja, while their area which produces the resources is left with virtually nothing.”Igwe Achebe also recalled that the South West leaders sometime ago, approved a memorandum, saying that there is need for Nigeria to be restructured in a way that no ethnic group should feel marginalised.Achebe also advised that Ndigbo should urgently address their readiness to survive under any arrangement in Nigeria by investing at home, rather than concentrating their investments and developing other parts of the country to the detriment of their area.“We are individually successful, but collectively, we are very much divided. Other ethnic nationalities that share Nigeria with us are seriously maximizing their collective interests,” he noted.Among those present at the well attended lecture were former vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, former governor of Anambra State, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Senator Joy Emeodi, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mrs. Rita Maduagwu, who represented Governor Willie Obiano.

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