The President-General of Ndigbo apex organisation, Ohanaeze, Chief John Nwodo, on Friday, said despite the relentless agitation of youths from the South-East, the Igbo preferred restructuring of the country to total break-up.
A statement made available to journalists in Abuja quoted Nwodo as saying this while addressing a cross-section of Ndigbo leaders in Abuja on Thursday.
Nwodo reportedly told them that no ethnic group had more stakes in the Nigerian project than the Igbo and as such could not consider disintegration as a viable option.
The Ohanaeze leader said there was no part of the country where Ndigbo had not invested their resources, even without corresponding investment in Igboland.
He said while Ohanaeze understood and appreciated the circumstances that prompted the agitations for secession by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra, Igbo leaders did not consider secession as a reasonable option.
The statement read, “He (Nwodo) said that restructuring will bring Nigeria to a level where every person of any tribe, religion or class, would have a sense of belonging and in return, give their best for the development of the country.”
According to the statement, Nwodo was in Abuja to meet with critical stakeholders in the Igbo project to have their understanding and be on the same page with them.
Nwodo also announced that steps were being taken by the body to carry the youth of the region along and ensure that Igbo people have a common and unified position on the way forward.
He insisted that equal partnership, ownership and a level playing ground for all was the right way to go to getting the best out of people and setting the country on the path of growth and development.
