What the Igbo people want “is some form of internal autonomy based on a restructured Nigeria,” Ohanaeze Ndigbo said on Thursday.
This position was conveyed by Prof George Obiozor, the President General of the Igbo apex social-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
He spoke when he presented the group’s position at the 1999 Constitution review hearing in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
According to Obiozor, what the people of South-East want is a Nigeria where there are equal opportunities where every federating unit would stand independent without asking for help from the center.
The Ohanaeze President said, “Fundamentally, what Ndigbo really want is some form of internal autonomy based on a restructured Nigeria. We (Ndigbo) are of the view that the federation of Nigeria must be a union of equals and the composite units must have the ability to stand without begging the centre for survival. That is a federal system of government and with its characteristics of decentralisation and evolution of power among the federating units.
“Therefore, in the context of the imperatives and urgency of restructuring Nigeria, we should focus on getting the right things done for the right reasons and at the right levels of government.”
Noting that those denied justice had no interest in peace, Obiozor called on the lawmakers “to conclude with decisions guided by love and not by hatred; and guided by our collective hopes and not by our fears.”