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On Wednesday, the youth wing of the socio-cultural organization Apex Igbo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, called on governors in the Southeast to seize the opportunity as the September ultimatum on the ban on open pastures draws to a close.
DAILY POST recalls that the governors of the South had at their last meeting in Lagos set September 1, 2021 as the deadline for the ban on open grazing in the region.
However, within a month of arrival, no state in the Southeast has passed a law banning open-air grazing.
Addressing a press briefing in Enugu, the national general chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike urged the governors to immediately forward the bill to the houses of assembly for this purpose.
The group also called on the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to reconsider the sit-at-home it declared with effect from next Monday.
Ohanaeze also said the Nigerian president of Igbo mining was non-negotiable in 2023.
Full text of the press conference below:
Today I welcome you to this press briefing on behalf of the millions of Igbo youth at home and in the Diaspora.
We have been following events both in the political regime and in Igboland closely and now is the time to make our position known as we continue to press for the restoration of our place in the political regime.
Can we clearly state that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths Worldwide under my leadership fully defend the interests of Ndigbo. We will never allow anything that goes against the collective interest and the unity of our people.
REVERSE MEETINGS
Nigeria has evolved through a process from the return to democracy in 1999 to the present day and there is no doubt that Ndigbo has taken the brunt of the country’s ups and downs during those years. They have been victims of all kinds of aggression, segregation and political exclusion. The situation has worsened under the current administration where everyone in the South East is considered not to be good enough to occupy a sensitive post, apart from statutory ministerial posts. We have seen cases where Igbo men and women retire or end their tenure in agencies only for the federal government to quickly appoint their replacement in the northern part of the country. A recent example is the registrar of NECO, who was horribly murdered to be replaced by a northerner. We see this as an affront to Ndigbo and it must be remedied. It is not a question of talking about the total absence of a Southeast at the highest level of security in this country.
PRESIDENCY OF THE IGBO
As we approach 2023, our position is simple: he is a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction or nothing. If indeed we are still considered part of this country, the time has come for other regions to show Ndigbo a certain respect and proof of acceptability. 2023 is undoubtedly Ndigbo’s turn to produce the next president through the zoning that favors southern Nigeria. Here in the South, with the exception of the South East, all other regions have had a chance in this coveted position. It is therefore undoubtedly an Igbo man’s turn to occupy the Aso building after President Muhammadu Buhari has completed his term. It is a sure way to appease the feelings of the people of the South East. You cannot beat a child and ask him not to cry. Our people have been cruelly beaten and brutalized and the only way to wipe away their tears and heal the wound is the 2023 presidency. To this end, we call on both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to zone their presidential ticket to the South-East. Other political parties are also expected to follow suit.
NNAMDI KANU / IPOB ORDER
We once again express our deep concern over the detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB. We have already condemned the way he was brought into the country, in defiance of all international laws and conventions. Either way, we urge the federal government that in future, its rights and the orders made by the same court where his trial is located must be respected. He should have access to his lawyer and family members as ordered by the court. We also beg the Igbo leaders not to abandon Nnamdi Kanu at the time of his trial. Some of his strategies may have been wrong, but this is not the time for blame games. We have to save one of our own, whom we consider a political prisoner and only a political solution is the surest way to his freedom. A delegation of leaders from the Southeast should be sent as quickly as possible to the federal government to facilitate his immediate release.
On the sit-at-home declared by the leadership of the IPOB from next Monday, we ask that the decision be reconsidered in the interest of our people. Let’s not forget that most of the people we fight for are artisans who feed off their daily income and asking them to stay home after the weekend break would place a heavy economic burden on them. In addition, the examination of the National Board of Exams, NECO, is also underway and our young people, the future of tomorrow are participating in this examination. Would it now be said that they should miss their exams on those days? Our humble call is that we seek a political solution to this issue. We will not fail to thank the members of the IPOB for having kept the peace and for having resisted the temptation to demonstrate, in the midst of a provocation.
OPEN PASTURE
We have less than a month of the deadline given by the governors of the South for a total ban on open pastures. We waited, we watched, but no Southeastern state passed the anti-open grazing law. Now is the time to act. They must not disappoint millions of Igbos because posterity will not be fair to them. Without wasting any more time, governors should send bills to the houses of assembly for this purpose. The lives of our people, especially our women and girls who are raped every day, and our poor rural dwellers who are cut down every day, must not be left under the altar of political exigency. It’s time to act.
REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS:
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, began continuous voter registration last month. However, we are not happy with the data we get. As usual, our people are in the back. It shouldn’t be, now is the time to put everything else aside and get our voter cards. It is our weapon, it is our future. I ask all Igbo youth to become a PVC ambassador wherever you are. We specifically call on all the agitators of Biafra to encourage their members and sympathizers to obtain the PVC because this will facilitate their journey, in particular as a means of identification in the event of a referendum.
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