Let’s get restructuring, forget Biafra, Nwodo tells Ndigbo

As the myriads of problems facing the country stare the citizenry in the face and appear un-abetting, the President-General, Ohaneze Nidigbo Worldwide, Chief John Nnia Nwodo has called on the people of the Southeast to concentrate their energy on efforts being made to achieve restructuring of Nigeria instead of dissipating same on aimless and wasteful calls for the actualisation of Biafra.

This is even as Nwodo has again reiterated his resolve to sabotage any man or group of Igbo extraction who engage in actions capable of causing another civil war in the country, adding “if you don’t make your case in a better way as an Igbo man, I will not support you or your cause as the father of Igboland”.

He stated this Tuesday at the 2nd Convocation Lecture of the Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State.

Nwodo, who was the Guest Lecturer, said no one could be more Biafran than the soldiers that fought the war on the Biafran side, himself inclusive, who saw the pains and the losses that the Southeasterners suffered during and after the war, pointing out that God had naturally given the region innate ingenuity which places it at vintage position in the global map.

He however, regretted that the youth have taken on paths that were antithetical to the nature of people of the zone.

He brought to the fore a book written by the late Professor Chinua Achebe, “There was a Country”, and wondered what went wrong with the very cord of unity that had hitherto bound and united the country together even before and during independence.

He noted that Nigeria has so disintegrated into an ethnic quagmire, a situation which according to him, “has made the Yoruba man to see first the Oduduwa cause before that of Nigeria; the Igbo man sees his personal cause first, before the Nigerian cause; and the Hausa man sees the Arewa cause before that of Nigeria”, adding that the unconstitutional means of calling for separation from the centre by the various ethnic groupings were nothing, but an infringement on the nation’s constitution.

He said there were two ways through which the call for actualisation of Biafra could be achieved, pointing out that one was through war, and another, was through diplomacy, but however advised that the latter was a more viable means left for the people of the region.

“Hear me well and I have said it before. I will be a saboteur if anyone incites another civil war and, decides to have Biafra that is unconstitutional. If you don’t present your case in a better way as an Igbo man, I will not support you or whatever you represent, as the father of Igbo land.

“Let’s get restructuring; it’s easier and forget Biafra, which we may not get. We condemn hate-speech by all means possible.

You cannot be more Biafran than those of us who were Biafran soldiers who fought the war and saw what the region lost as a result. To honest, the nation has disintegrated into ethnic quagmire”, he said.

Citing the various developmental strides recorded by the current Governing Board of the university under the leadership of the Pro-chancellor Oba Micheal Aremu Adedotun Gbadebo and the Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba in a very short time, Nwodo noted that “a university of this age cannot be founded in the circumstances I find it today”, saying that the development going on in the university should be continued in the interest of generations unborn.

Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Nwajiuba, revealed that FUNAI just commenced the 3rd medical school funded by the federal government, and urged the guest lecturer to implore those that were capable and business-minded to come to the university and build hostels, invest and endowment.

He noted that Nwodo’s wealth of experience was enormous, and the topic of the convocation lecture, tagged, “National Reconciliation and the Role of Universities” timely, considering the various ethnic challenges confronting the country at this time.

The Chairman of the occasion, Professor Uche Azikiwe, wife of the former President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe thanked the Vice Chancellor , Professor Nwajiuba for choosing the topic, adding that Nigeria was faced with different problems, which according to her included injustice, inequality, maginalisation, among others.

Azikiwe said, “they call us giants of Africa, but it has become worrisome how we have messed ourselves up before the comity of nations, thus the need for us to go back to the drawing board to fix those problems we created by ourselves”.