A group of prominent Igbo leaders under the aegis Igbo Leaders of Thought has cautioned that President Goodluck Jonathan may be Nigeria’s last President if Northern elements bent on grabbing power continue to sponsor Boko Haram’s reign of terror.
The group made the remarks after a meeting in Enugu chaired by Prof. Ben Nwabueze.
According to a statement signed by its Deputy Secretary, Evang. Elliot Uko, and the Leader of the Igbo Women Assembly, Chief Mariah Okwor, the group said the Northern elements would not succeed in anything other than ushering in the disintegration of Nigeria.
“We wish to draw the attention of the international community, especially the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS, that the ongoing daily attack on the foundation of the Nigerian state by a ruthless, barbaric and well oiled Islamic jihadist killing machine, is a political war funded and waged by ethno/religious bigots who believe that they are born with divine right to rule others perpetually.
“The fact that they are gradually axing the root that holds this country still standing, while at the same time stubbornly opposing the wishes of the vast majority of other ethnic nationalities for a restructured Nigeria, simply means that they are inadvertently tilting the country towards a dissolution whereafter they can have their “religiously pure” Islamic nation, comprising the north-east and north-west zones of present Nigeria, but certainly without the central zone of Nigeria as their cannon fodder.
“Now that evidence has confirmed through the ongoing military court marshall that disgruntled senior army officers recently retired from the army in cahoots with a large pool of political leaders of a particular section of the country are the ones directing and influencing certain serving senior, medium-level and even junior army officers to subvert, undermine and bring down the government by feeding Boko Haram with intelligence, what more does anybody need to see that this is clearly a religious and political war for the very soul of Nigeria.
“For these evil people, we have only one message: you will never seize central power by making Nigeria ungovernable through senseless insurgency. Rather, if anything, you will only succeed in confirming Jonathan as the last president of one united Nigeria.”
The Elders said the continued existence of Nigeria cannot be guaranteed if the ongoing National Conference did not adopt regionalism for Nigeria.
“After wide consultations with broad spectrum of Ndigbo, we hereby reiterate the position of the Igbo nation on the ongoing National Conference.
“If Nigeria is not restructured along the lines of six regions as federating units, with each unit maintaining its powers as democratically provided under the 1963 Constitution, the ongoing conference would have served no useful purpose in the struggle to save Nigeria.”