Elder statesman and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu has expressed his resentment over the attitude of some people in the struggle for sovereign state of Biafra.
Addressing newsmen in Owerri, the Champion publisher fumed at those who have even gone out of their way to publish what they call accounts of the war.
Iwuanyanwu said, “Other tribes are doing better than us. It is good for somebody to protest but it is nonsensical for people to go to the extreme level of taking laws into his hands by blocking roads.
“Books have been written by people who neither commanded any command nor fought the battle.”
Iwuanyanwu said that he gets angry when people claim that Ndigbo lost the war, adding that if there was any failure, it was by Ndigbo.
“To say that Igbos are marginalized is stating the obvious and government must try and address the anomaly. It must also be said that before the war, things were done purely on merit but it is no longer so today.
“Where the Igbos go from here is anybody’s guess”, he said.
Iwuanyanwu while commending General Yakubu Gowon,rtd, for setting in motion the issue of reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation, however, downplayed the manner in which Ndigbo now rush to Abuja for all manner of reasons.
He said, “People now flood Abuja for several reasons instead of coming home to develop our place.
“I was excited when Imo State Government started preaching the palm revolution but what has happened so far, does not give anybody cause for cheers. We have fertile land in the East but we sadly import all the foods we eat.”
On the issue of censors, the PDP Chieftain observed that Ndigbos will always be in the minority, especially with relation to some cultures and religious belief. He said people are expected to marry more than one wife and the ability to have more than 80 children.
“It is therefore not reasonable for the National Population Commission, NPC, to ask us to divorce politics from the census. We can divorce politics from census if we cease to use it as a means of determining the electoral wards, representation at various levels.
“If the nation refuses to use the large population emanating from the numerous wives some people marry, then we can support the call for the non-politicization of census and the consequent figures”, Iwuanyanwu noted.
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