Apex pan Igbo organisation, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, has stated that as long as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is still behind bars, the entire Igbo race is under encasement.
This is coming as the body has reiterated its demand to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for the release of Kanu, insisting that the release would rekindle the spirit of a united Nigeria.
According to Prince Okey Nwadinobi, Vice President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, who represented the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Sen John Azuka Mbata.
“We want to use this opportunity to appeal once again to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to release our brother Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who has been behind bars for too long ”
“It is the view of the entire Igbo people that as long as Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains behind bars, the entire Igbo race is behind bars and shall continue to remain behind bars until Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains behind bars,” he said.
He further explained that the essence of this year’s Igbo Day Celebration is in memory of the Igbos that were brutally murdered during the polgrom before and during the Nigerian Civil War.
“We have come here today not in celebration but in commemoration of a day that we have set aside in the Ohaneze calendar set aside to remember our brothers and sisters who were brutally murdered on 1966 September 29th ”
“We are here to remember all those who were murdered during and before the Nigerian Civil War. We have also come together to remember all our people who, in defence of our people, paid the supreme sacrifice,” he said.
Governor Charles Soludo, who was the Chief Host of the occasion, noted that the slogan of Never Again should be a moment of reflection on the Igbo past and the future.
“Thank you for remembering our heroes past, for remembering our heroes who died several years ago for the quest of our Nationhood, and every nation has had its own challenges and vicissitudes, we actually even had the pogrom and the civil war ”
“We have been able to remind all of us that never again, just as the Jews said it after the Second World War”
“This day should be a reminder for Ndigbo that Never Again, because many of them who crave for war never saw one. Those who saw war truly will never ask for another war to befall Igbo land again”
“While saying never again is not for us to have a deep reflection on our past and what the future holds for us as a people”.
Similarly, the Anioma Igbo community, which has been making agitations for the creation of Anioma State as the sixth Igbo state in Nigeria, urged the rest of the Igbo-speaking states of the South East to support the movement.
Ogbuefi Godfrey Odigwu, representing Sen Ned Nwoko at the occasion, said, “We have made powerful representations at the National Assembly, and we are also happy to inform you all my brothers and sisters that we have observed due diligence that over ninety senators out of a 109 senators of Nigeria for all zones in Nigeria are now supporting the creation of Anioma State”
“We are now looking forward to the passage of the bill at the third reading, and then a referendum would follow”
“In the spirit of be your brother’s and sister’s keeper, appeal to the Ohaneze Ndigbo and the entire Igbos worldwide to support the creation of Anioma State as the sixth state in the South East zone of Nigeria and a state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”
“It is time for Ndigbo to welcome their brothers and sisters of Anioma – Igbo with open hands”, he admonished.
