Igbo ‘never mandated anyone to talk about seceding’ from Nigeria

Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, chairman of planning and strategy of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, says nobody was mandated to talk about Igbo breaking away from the country.

In an interview with NAN, Iwuanyanwu said if anybody makes a statement to that effect, it should not be assumed to be the stance of all Igbo.

He expressed joy that governors were giving assurances that the Igbo are safe in their states.

The chairman planning and strategy commended President Muhammadu Buhari for saying that those who make threatening comments would be disciplined.

‘‘I am an Igbo man and a leader. I was the chairman of planning and strategy of Ohaneze Ndigbo, so when you talk of any decision on the Igbo, it must have my consent.

‘‘Igbo have never mandated anybody to go and talk about secession. We have heard that some youths reversed the call for the exit of the Igbo form the north.

‘‘l am happy that Nigerian leaders as well as the governors are coming up to say that Igbo are safe in their places.

‘‘Many Igbo in the north have been coming to me asking me of what to do; I want to assure them that nobody is going to hurt them.

‘‘We all stand for one Nigeria and in future if anybody makes a statement, nobody should generalise and say it is Igbo.”

He said restructuring should be accepted as it is not a complicated process.

‘‘We have had two constitutional conferences during chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr Goodluck Jonathan civilian governments. We don’t even need to have a sovereign national conference,” he said.

‘‘If the national assembly members can be honest with themselves, they should form a committee of the whole which include both chambers and call it a restructuring committee.

‘‘Call for submission by people then include it with the submissions from the conference by Obasanjo and Jonathan, then they will know that we want to restructure to give more autonomy, money and development to the region and avoid people running to Abuja for everything.

‘‘We need a system where people can stay in their states, create industries and get jobs.”