Hatred for Nidigbo must stop – Obi Onubuogu
Spiritual Director/Founder, Rock Family Church, Enugu, Bishop Obi Onubogu, has called on other geo-political zones in Nigeria to stop what he described as “national hatred for Ndigbo.”
Onubuogu said Ndigbo brought light and development to various parts of Nigeria and should not be marginalised or discriminated against.
The clergyman made the appeal in Enugu at a post 2023 General Election Zonal Town Hall Meeting with Stakeholders.
The event was organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Center for Africa, PAACA.
The religious leader posited that with the continued discrimination and marginalisation against Ndigbo in various parts of the country, Igbo might be forced to return to their base, which in the long run may not augur well for Nigeria as a nation.
“If you drag Igbo people back to their place, what are you going to say about what they have done for you. There is discrimination against Ndigbo in Nigeria; the national hatred for Ndigbo must stop,” he declared.
Onubogu, who probably was referring to how Ndigbo were maltreated in Lagos following the outcome of the 2023 general election, called on Ndigbo to help themselves.
Speaking earlier at the occasion, Enugu State CAN chairman, Rev. Emmanuel Ede, lamented that the shoddy way INEC handled the just concluded 2023 polls which many believed would have been foolproof.
“Our country is becoming too complex to handle. All the promises INEC made were thrown into the trash.
“INEC failed the entire world. If they had kept to their promises, we wouldn’t be where we are now,” he lamented, urging the National Orientation Agency, NOA, that held the Town Hall Meeting in conjunction with PAACA to embark on more orientation for Nigeria to be better.
The Executive Director, PAACA, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said INEC was not to blame entirely for the 2023 general election because they acted within the ambit of the electoral law, pointing out that in Igbo land people were practically being dragged to obtain PVCs and to vote whereas others came out enmasse.
He challenged the stakeholders to tell him the number of people that had a copy of the 2022 electoral law as amended and those who actually read them, but was surprised that only a few did.
He urged Nigerians to be informed before making comments on the outcome of the election and indeed on other national issues.
Moving away from partisan politics, Ezenwa called on Ndigbo to come together to chart a common front.
According to him, other parts of Nigeria speak with one voice but Igbos prefer to appear sacrosanct and to wear the garb of knowing it all and thus lose what they would have gained in Nigeria.
