The leadership of the Igbo community in Ogun State has restated the need for unity between the Igbo and Yoruba in Nigeria, insisting that the union is the key to nation building.
President-General of the Community, Chief John Oguebunwa, said this while speaking during a courtesy call on the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams in Lagos.
Oguebunwa said that the reason for the visit was to restate the group’s commitment to peace and also forge an enduring relationship with the Yoruba generalissimo, whom he said remained a major stakeholder in Nigeria.
Oguebunwa disclosed also that the group had considered it important to visit the revered Yoruba generalissimo in order to seek possible synergy that could enhance the effective relationship between the group and the Yoruba traditional institution, describing the Yoruba as a liberal race.
“Our coming today from Ogun State is to share our love and to identify with the patriotic roles you have been playing as one of the major stakeholders in the Nigerian project.
“The Yoruba are a liberal race, and we are going to take advantage of the South West liberal lifestyle to seek better understanding and unity among the two ethnic nationalities.
“We are determined to strengthen the bond between our organization and the Aare Onakakanfo who is like a father to us. And we are happy that the Yoruba generalissimo has extended his royal hands of peace to us,” he said.
“In Nigeria’s history, the Igbo and the Yoruba have been friends from the beginning and we will like to replicate the noble ideals of our founding fathers,” he added.
Iba Adams, in his remarks, applauded the leaders of the Igbo Community in Ogun State, disclosing that the visit was a step in the right direction.
Adams also reiterated the need for enduring synergy between the two major tribes in Nigeria, just as he noted that he had a good relationship with Igbo in Lagos, declaring that it would be difficult for Yoruba and Igbo to clash in Lagos as, according to him, there are both physical and economic as well as the spiritual bond that bound the two tribes together.
“I have a good relationship with Igbo in Lagos. It will be difficult for Yoruba and Igbo to clash in Lagos because there are physical and economic and even spiritual bonds that bind the two tribes together.
He urged the community to refrain from inflammatory statements that Lagos is a no man’s land, adding that such a statement was capable of straining the relationship between the two tribes.
“Anything that happened in Lagos
is reflected in other part of the South- West.
“So, we must not allow politics and personal interest to divide us. Politics will come and go, but we must be conscious of the decision we make before, during or after the political season because we are all involved in whatever happens to us in Nigeria.
“So, as citizens, we must be alive to our responsibility by ensuring that there is unity and peace among us.
“There are better things we can do together to help the Nigerian future.
And if truly we all want this country to move forward, we need complete regionalism. Let all the regions develop at their own pace. The content of a Republican Constitution of 1963 can also be in handy and until Nigeria is restructured along the line of regionalism, we will continue to move two steps forward, four steps backwards. And that is the sad irony of the Nigerian fate,” he stated.
Other members of the group that visited the Aare Onakakanfo include Chiefs Young Nwachukwu, Donatson Ngele, Mrs.Emeje, Hon. Solomon, Chief Mike Okwandu, Comrade Maurice Ogu and Chief Christopher Eze.
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