Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, the apex Igbo sociocultural and political organization, has rekindled its push for the creation of additional states for the South East, with the support of the Igbo Lawyers Association (ILA).
The South East zone has been advocating for an additional state to bring it at par with the other five zones in the federation, most of which have six, with one having seven.
The President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has indicated that the ongoing constitution review provides another window for the actualization of the objective. He reiterated the call for the creation of additional states for the zone and demanded the devolution of power in the constitutional review by the National Assembly.
At a recent retreat for Igbo leaders in Enugu, Iwuanyanwu stated that the Igbo were not happy with the skewed nature of the 1999 Constitution and stood for a restructured Nigeria where power would be devolved from the Federal Government to the states. He emphasized that allocation should be shared based on states and not on local governments, which he described as lopsided.
Ohanaeze has charged one of its newly inaugurated committees to make state creation its priority. The ILA has expressed optimism that the present agitation by Ohanaeze and its resolve to dialogue with the federal government will be fruitful.
The Igbo Lawyers Association, led by Chief Chuks Muoma, SAN, and its National Coordinator, Victor Onwerenmadu, pledged to support Ohanaeze’s step-up campaign for a fair share for the zone in the state structure. The zone had made presentations to the government to use its legal instruments to create an additional state, but the requests had not been heeded by the authorities.
The South East zone has been advocating for an additional state to ensure a fair distribution of states in the federation. The ongoing constitution review provides an opportunity for Ohanaeze to push for the actualization of this objective, with the support of the Igbo Lawyers Association.
