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… to pursue Igbo unity, Presidency
Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Chief Godson Chukwuma Ezenagu has emerged the new President-General of Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide, a socio-political organization whose ultimate goal is to galvanise Ndi-Igbo towards a formidable front where the Igbo nation would speak with one voice and unity of purpose.
Ezenagu said that the organization was not anti-government neither was it going to run parallel to other socio-cultural Igbo entities like the Ohaneze-Ndigbo and some others but would bridge what he perceived as gap among Ndi-Igbo to enable them to obtain their rightful status in the polity.
Speaking to our correspondent in Awka shortly after his inauguration, the former commissioner for agriculture and rural development in Anambra state, said that Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide has come to fill the vacuum created by other Igbo socio-cultural organizations.
He said, “I was elected to pilot the affairs of Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide. This organisation came into being about four years ago and since then it has suffered some tutelage waiting for the opportunity to champion the Igbo cause.
We want a situation where Ndi-Igbo will unite under one umbrella. Ndi-Igbo under Indigenous People of Biafra are not united. Under Ohaneze-Ndigbo, some people say yes and some people say no. So there is no one Igbo organization that is the mouth-piece of Ndi-Igbo general.
So that called for the rebirth of Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide. We are no longer one as we used to be. What obtains now is pull-him-down syndrome which is the ‘nchiko mentality’ where one crab wants to climb and other crabs pull him down. Gone are the days of Great Zik of Africa, Michael Okpara, Louis Mbanefo, K.O. Mbadiwe and some others.
So we have decided to come up with a united forum that is non-violent and non-confrontational. We want to work with any government and all we want is for what is due to Ndi-Igbo to be given to them because we have been sidelined in the Nigerian polity.”
Ezenagu who had served as the Managing Director of the Anambra State Housing Development Corporation observed that Ndi-Igbo have been placed on the seventh position in the current composition of the federal government of Nigeria, stressing that formerly Ndi-Igbo used to occupy the positions of vice president, senate president, deputy senate president and a few other sensitive positions in the army, navy, air force, customs, immigration but expressed deep concern that Ndi-Igbo were nowhere to be found in the current political equation.
He however posited that as a result of the foregoing, concerned citizens of Igbo extraction decided that Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide should take it upon itself to ensure that the Igbo were united as well as cross-pollinate ideas to place the Igbo nation on the front burner of national discourse.
The former agric commissioner also noted that it was time Ndi-Igbo redefined politics and get what was due to them from the government of the federation adding that Ndi-Igbo United Forum Worldwide would complement the efforts of other pro-Igbo bodies to front Igbo agenda in Nigeria as it concerns presidency and other daunting demands.
Although cognisant of the fact that the Yoruba nation has ruled the country for eight years, Hausas ruled also for more than eight years, equity according to him demands that Ndi-Igbo should be allowed to take their turn in the presidency.
