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God didn’t make mistake creating Igbo in Nigeria – Gowon

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A former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.), on Thursday eulogised the South East geopolitical zone saying

“God did not make mistake putting Igbo in Nigeria.

The elder statesman who believed that without Igbo, Nigeria would not be complete said the absence of their intelligence and hard work would have made the country poorer.

Gowon, represented by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2019 election, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, stated these during a debate with the theme:

“National Unity: Federal character, restructuring and rotation of presidential power in Nigeria organised by Igbo Leadership Development Foundation.

Gowon who said that in a democracy there has to be fairness, justice and transperacy in the leadership and governance of any country, argued that restructuring have to be done in an atmosphere of tolerance and love for each other.

He said, “I am not a friend of hate speech, bitterness but a friend of patrotism because Nigeria is dear to my heart and I believe in bright future of Nigeria and the Igbo and with that together, we can make our country great.

Mailafia who also spoke for himself, decried the injustice being faced by the Igbo ethnic nationality in Nigeria, saying only restructuring must address all the imbalances.

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According to him, since the country was big enough to accommodate everyone irrespective of tribe, the constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances for the sake of equity.

He said, “I believe that a lot of injustice have been done to the Igbo and the constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances.

Nigeria is big enough for all of us and I believe that the Ndigbo, Middle belt and the Yoruba are the true Nigerians because if you look round our borders, people came from abroad and are still coming.

“But Ndigbo have always been there, Middle Belt have always been there, even Yoruba have always been there. People who came in yesterday who have a duty of respect are now the ones talking.

“Going forward, we must create a federal democracy that will respond positively to all the aspirations of our people not about East-West but all about working together in equality, bringing in the youths, the women together to build a new Nigeria.”

The keynote speaker and Founder of Gregory University, Uturu, Prof. Gregory Ibe, said that the unitary and federal systems of government were only in name.

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He regretted that the present system was a clear departure from the federal system bequeathed the country by its founding fathers and Britain.

“Most of the powers that will engender real growth and development are tied in the exclusive list.

Solid minerials, electricity, railway, ports, security etc. are all tied to the federal exclusive list to be executed only by the Federal Government, which has not been able to live up to an expectations of Nigerians.

In summary, restructuring consequentially is returning to the States the powers taken away by the military from regions”, Ibe said said.

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