An Igbo leader and elder statesman, Charles Ogbonnaya, has warned the Federal Government against ceding parts of Igbo land to other regions ahead of the clamour for a return to regional administration.
Ogbonnaya gave this warning amid rumours that some parts of Igbo land, particularly, the Ohaji/Egbema local government of Imo State would be ceded to the South-South region.
Ogbonnaya, who was a two-term Commissioner in Abia State, also applauded President Bola Tinubu for initiating the court action that led to the Supreme Court’s granting Local Government councils financial autonomy.
Expressing his support for the idea of returning to the regional government, the elder statesman warned against ceding any part of Igboland to another region.
He said if it is not possible to return the country to the original four regions as was obtained before the military intervention in 1966, the best option should be to transform and strengthen the existing six geo-political zones into regional administrations.
He called on the Federal Government to resist any pressure from any quarters to move the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State to the South-South region as being rumoured.
He warned that such action would be very offensive to Ndigbo and would bring bad blood and could be seen as a declaration of “war” against Ndigbo as Ohaji/Egbema is an oil-producing area and an economic life wire for the South East region.
According to him, if Nigeria as a nation wants to right the wrongs of the past, all the Igbo-speaking Local Governments in Delta, Edo, Rivers, and Kogi States should be brought to join the SouthEast region.
“Recall that it was politics of the civil war that made the Mamman Nasir Boundary Adjustment Commission cede some parts of Egbema where former IGP Mike Okiro hails from to Rivers State. All those areas are Igboland”, he explained.
Regionalism: Don’t cede parts of Igbo land to another region – Ogbonnaya to Nigerian govt