The Rivers State chapter of the Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo Worldwide has warned against excluding Igbo people from the politics of the state.
The chapter president of the group, Livingstone Wechie, in a statement to commemorate the World Igbo Adoration and Thanksgiving Day boasted that the Igbos had the largest voting bloc in the state.
Wechie said, “The Rivers State chapter President cautioned against any orientation that will isolate Ndi-Igbo from the politics or economy of Rivers State. It is not in dispute that Igbos have the largest voting block in Rivers state as well as dominate the economic lifeline of the state.
“We maintain that one of the most strategic ways to honour our fallen heroes and survivors of the civil war is to leverage on our entrepreneurial mastery and use our population to influence the politics of the state positively”.
He appealed to Igbo people to rethink their approach to politics saying the ethnic group possessed the potential to attain any political height of interest in the country.
Wechie called on Igbos in Rivers State to see the current trend and business space in the state as a golden opportunity to reposition themselves in the Nigerian project.
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He said: “It is no doubt that the Igbo question is still unanswered by the Nigerian state and remains the main unresolved question in contemporary black Africa today.
“We seize this medium to thank God for making Igbos great. Igbos are arguably the largest black stock on Earth. The slave trade escalated our global spread.
“Calabar was the largest slave port in Africa and Igbos were the highest victims exported to various countries which is why we have indigenous Igbos in many countries of the world. This to us is a strength and not a disadvantage. We urge government at all levels to engage Ndi-Igbo for a purposeful future”.
Wechie sued for peace in Rivers saying the state remained the safest haven for Igbo investment.
“As we invite Ndi-Igbo from all over the world to pour in their highest investment into Rivers State because the Atlantic is open to us, we assure the government of Rivers State of the greatest support of Igbos for the development of the State”, he said.