Nigeria has been unfair to Igbo people - Nwodo

Chief John Nnia Nwodo who is the
president-general of the Ohaneze Ndigbo
has criticised the way the Igbo people in
Nigeria are being treated and warned that
Biafra may be the answer if nothing
changes.
In an interview with Vanguard, the leader of
the apex Igbo group said Igbo people are
treated like second-class citizens by the
Muhammadu Buhari administration and
recalled that things were not better during
the Goodluck Jonathan period.
He gave the example of when he was given
an appointment by the former president but
tore up the letter as he saw it as an insult.
He said: “Ever since the war ended, the state
of federal roads in the South-East remains the
same. The mineral resources still remain the
same till today. Of recent, an Igbo was
Minister of Petroleum, and for the first time in
the history of Nigeria, the financial activities
of NNPC were available by a click of the mouse
to anyone in and out of Nigeria. You could see
how much is being spent in a month. It was
the first time NNPC posted profit.

“He was rewarded with a demotion from
minister to a directorship on NNPC’s board. I
had been minister twice. All parastatals under
a ministry report to the minister. Former
President Goodluck Jonathan once appointed
me to the governing council of a university. I
tore the letter of appointment. I saw it as an
insult. Not because of lack of humility but
because he did not appreciate what I
represented.
“It’s not me as a person, but imagine an Igbo
man who has been appointed a minister twice
and former presidential candidate to be
reduced to the level of governing council
member in a university in Igbo land. This is a
man from South-South but he treated us the
same way that the Buhari administration is
treating us.
“I don’t desire any appointment by this
administration, I have served my turn but
these are clear examples of how Igbo are
treated. I don’t think there are up to four Igbo
commissioners of police in this administration
in a place where you have not less than 40
commissioners of police. We have been found
to be politically incompetent to handle security
matters in Nigeria. But we have been found to
be physically competent to be foot soldiers in
the war front, especially the Boko Haram war
where the level of mortality is high. This is not
a true federation.
“In Lagos, we have Igbo who have built house
approved by the government but had not been
given certificate of occupancy by the
government for more than 15 years. There are
Igbo representatives in the Lagos State House
of Assembly can’t we have at least one Igbo at
the executive council?
“The Nigerian Customs charges Igbo twice the
cost of clearing his goods through the sea
ports. They pay at the ports and are waylaid
on the roads and extorted. Our people are
displeased and this has compounded anger in
our youths and they have passed a vote of no
confidence in us their fathers as not presenting
their disgust and, so, have taken their destiny
in their hands.”
Concerning the National Conferences that
have been held in Nigeria, Nwodo said they
have been unconstitutional which was why
they have failed.
He said: “The foundation of both conferences
by Obasanjo in 2005 and that of Jonathan in
2014 were undemocratic. Nobody elected those
delegates to represent them. They were
handpicked by the government and many saw
it as selecting people you already know their
point of view and who were going to produce
something you want.