Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo groups in Lagos State, has appealed for ceasefire in the raging controv...
Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo groups in Lagos State, has appealed for ceasefire in the raging controversy surrounding the recent launch of Professor Chinua Achebe's civil war memoirs, "There Was a Country," describing it as "unnecessary and diversionary."
The group's Publicity Secretary, Chief Chuma Igwe, in a statement, said revisiting the civil war debacle at this critical moment of the nation's history was regrettable, recalling that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had given vivid account of his roles in the war in 1983 as widely reported in both local and foreign media. Igwe said Awolowo's explanation almost 30 years ago should have put paid to any grievances.
While calling for immediate end to the imbroglio, Ndigbo Lagos said instead of this avoidable bickering, the South should rather focus on efforts to enthrone fairness, equity and justice in the Nigerian polity with a view to moving the nation forward.
The group further said instead of promoting unheathy rivalry between the South-west and South-east, relationship between the two zones should rather be deepened to enable them partner freely with each other for Igbo Presidency and other relevant issues in the nearest future.
"The ongoing demand of the South-east for additional state, the serious infrastructure deficit subsisting in our geographical zone and the Igbo presidency project are areas Ndigbo Lagos believes the South-west should come out with unequivocal support for the Ndigbo position," Igwe said.
While commending the hitherto existing co-operation between Ndigbo and Yoruba nation, the group said the good relationship should be sustained until it has translated "into mutually beneficial, political, social and cultural relationship for the progress of the nation," adding: "At this point in time, the South-east, South-south and South-west are in consultations, working together for a better Nigeria to ensure that such a situation does not arise again," the group said.
Source: ThisDay
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