By Tony Edike
ENUGU-IGBO leaders held a
crucial meeting on the proposed
National dialogue in Enugu
yesterday where they
emphasized the need for the
South East to harmonize their
position on various national
issues and present same to the
confab.
The participants at the meeting
convened under the aegis of
South East Peoples
Development Association,
SEPDA, also expressed
optimism that the conference
would afford the Igbo the
opportunity to make legitimate
demands that would bring to an
end the lomg marginalisation of
the zone in the affairs of the
country.
One of the major vexing issues
which they intend to canvass at
the conference is the creation of
an additional state in the South
East, which has been top on the
agitation by Ndigbo for quite a
long time.
Present at the meeting held at
Modotel Hotel, Enugu were
Ohanaeze President-General,
Chief Enwo Igariwey, Dr
Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dr. Sam
Egwu, Dr. Mrs Uche Azikiwe,
Dr Nkemka Jombo-Ofor, Igwe
Prof Sam Ukpabi, Prof Joe
Irukwu and Obi Gibson Nwosu,
Eze-Uzu Awka.
Others were Dr. Joe Nwaorgu,
Prof Uzodimma Nwala, Dr
Mbazulike Amaechi, Igwe Aja
Nwachukwu, Dr. Philip
Atanmuo, Sen Offia Nwali,
Chief Simon Okeke, Chief
Chekwas Okorie and Chief Ken
Emechebe among others.
Speaking at the meeting, former
Minister of Education, Dr Sam
Egwu said the forum was aimed
at building an Igbo consensus
on various issues that would
come up at the forthcoming
National Dialogue.
He said that it would be wrong
for Ndigbo to appear before the
conference without a consensus
on the issues they intend to
pursue, stressing that
everything possible should be
done to ensure that the Igbo
race benefit maximally from the
dialogue.
“For our voice to be well heard
we must first of all build a
consensus. Igbo should not
allow their differences to
jeopardize our collective
interest. It has also become
pertinent to draw a political
roadmap for Igbos in 2015 and
beyond. We must ask ourselves
basic questions – if the South
East will not produce the
president in 2015, when will
they do that?” Egwu said.
Also speaking, Ohanaeze
President General, Chief
Igariwey said the umbrella Igbo
organization is already working
with various Igbo groups to
ensure unity among the race
before moving to the confab.
“The issue at hand is very
pertinent and requires inputs of
all the stakeholders. We need to
arrive at a consensus so that
those representing the Igbo will
speak based on the positions
agreed upon by our people,” he
said.
But in his contribution, the
national Chairman of the newly
registered United Progressive
Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas
Okorie expressed fears that the
desire by Ndigbo to get an
additional state might not be
realised at the conference.
Giving reasons why it has not
been possible for the people of
the South East to have the
additional state,
Okorie said it was neither
Ndigbo nor the National
Assembly that made it difficult
to create additional states but
purely the military that
bequeathed power to civilian
democracy.
Chief Okorie said that it was
easier for a Carmel to pass the
eye of a needle than for a new
state to be created owing to the
1999 constitution that was yet
to be reviewed.
According to Okorie unless the
1999 constitution bequeathed to
Nigerians by the military
administration is altered, there
is no way anybody can create
additional state in Nigeria.
He said: “Our not getting
additional state is the
conspiracy of the military junta
headed by Abdulsalam
Abubakar that handed down
the 1999 Constitution.
“Under the provision of the
constitution, it will take the
proverbial Carmel to pass
through the eye of a needle
before state or states are
created..
“You need to go and look at
those provisions. They are
extremely difficult to meet and
it was deliberately put like that.
During the Constitutional
Conference in 2005, that’s why
I didn’t bother myself with state
creation but I insist on making
the six zones, federating units.
“If the six zones become
federating units that’s equality:
whether you have ten states in
one zone or three states in one
zone does not make much
difference. That’s the practical
approach to it.”
On the possibility of an
Igboman becoming the
president of Nigeria come 2015
or in the near future, Okorie
was of the view that the only
political party that gives an
Igboman the opportunity to
aspire for the exalted office of
the president is his own political
party, the UPP.
He maintained that other
political parties do not have it in
their agenda to give the
Igboman the opportunity to
become the next president of
Nigeria.
“Is there the possibility that
APC will make any Igboman
presidential candidate in 2015
or later? The answer is No. Is
there the possibility that PDP
will make any Igboman
presidential candidate in 2015
or later. The answer is No,” he
said.
“What this implies is that we
must support and embrace the
only political party which has
again passed a resolution by its
national executive committee,
EXCO, zoning presidential slot
to the South East geopolitical
zone. That political party is the
one I have also founded with
the collaboration of some
patriotic Nigerians – the United
Progressive Party, UPP, with
the head of the tiger as its
symbol,” he added.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/national-dialogue-igbo-leaders-move-build-consensus/

Kudos to igbo elders for their resolve to speak in one voice at the confab. I agree that the present constitution makes it practically impossible for creation of a new state in the SE since it requires the approval of other regions for a state to be created in one region. And we know that the north which has more states than the south would not be favourably diposed to creation of a new state in the SE. So, the best bet for not just the SE but other regions is to push for true federalism whereby the different regions have control over their resources while central government only oversees the regions.