Leaders and prominent personalities in the Southeast have rejected agitations for disintegration, they pledged their commitment to upholding the unity of Nigeria.
The resolution was reached on Friday at a meeting between the Federal Government delegation, led by the Defence Minister, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi and the Southeast governors and other leaders of the political, religious and traditional institutions in the region at Enugu State Government House.
The delegation, which had the Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola and Service Chiefs, engaged the Igbo leaders in several hours at a closed-door meeting on security challenges.
Addressing journalists after the meeting in Enugu, Magashi said the meeting discussed, amongst other issues, the problem of marginalisation, which the people of Southeast had been complaining of since the inception of the Buhari administration, saying that further discussion would continue on the matter upon their return to Abuja to brief the president.
He said, “we have agreed on the following items: That the Southeast governors and the Southwest have committed to the unity and stability of this great country. And we are giving them the assurance and confidence that this commitment will be relayed to the Federal Government and in fact, the Commander-in-Chief himself.
“Issues raised comprise the instability and the criminality affecting the country in general. And we are happy to discuss the ones that are peculiar to this part of the country. We have agreed that there are fundamental issues that need to be addressed.”
Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum and Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, commended the presidency for making an attempt to identify the nature and source of the current conflict, saying that was the best way of resolving conflicts.
Southeast leaders in the meeting included governors of Enugu, Abia and Imo states, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and Senator Hope Uzodinma respectively, Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Uchechukwu Ogah.
Others are the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani, Senator Ike Ekweramadu, Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Toby Okechukwu, Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, former Governor of old Enugu State, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Southeast, among others.
