Issue Of IGBO Marginalisation Reverberates As Nigerians Commemorate June 12
As Nigerians commemorate the return to democratic governance on June 12, the question of Igbo marginalization in the Nigerian polity has continued to reverberate.
The Dean of the School of Business and Social Sciences, Maduka University, Ekwegbe in Enugu State, Dr Malachi Ochie while speaking a special edition of Signature Morning has decried what he called the continuous systemic marginalisation of Nd’Igbo in Nigeria.
He wondered Nigerians have failed to appreciate the unique role played by an Igbo man, Humphrey Nwosu that brought about the June 12 date when he introduced the option A4 system of voting.
Dr. Ochie said that Igbos must be given a rightful place in Nigeria since the Yorubas have been compensated and that the Igbos have paid the ultimate price for the unity of Nigeria.
However, a legal practitioner Chidi Nobis-Elendu who also featured on Signature Morning said he does not agree with the notion that Igbos are being marginalized, irrespective of the aftermath of the civil war.
He said Igbos should stop bemoaning the effects of the civil war because God has given them the natural talent and other endowments to excel and make significant impact in any part of the country and the world at large.
The legal practitioner also paid tribute to the late chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Prof Professor Humphrey Nwosu who conducted the June 12 1993 presidential election won by late MKO Abiola saying that Nwosu should even be better honoured than Abiola himself.
On the agitation for self-determination agitation by some Igbo youth, Nobis-Elendu said Biafra agitation has been hijacked but maintained that Igbos want to be part and parcel of Nigeria and not to be sidelined in national development.
