BY ANAYO OKOLI.
UMUAHIA- OHANEZE Youths have attacked the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) over its stance against additional state for the South East geo-political zone.

Ohaneze youths accused the group of inciting the northern delegates at the on-going National Conference to vote against the core demands of Ndigbo at the conference, which is an additional state.

A statement signed by the National Youth Leader, Ohaneze Youth Wing, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the position of ACF amounts to “to total disrespect and lack of love for Ndigbo”.

“It portrays the ACF as a group that has for long benefited from the structural marginalization of Ndigbo in the Nigerian project, and are willing to go to any length to maintain the tilted status quo”, Ohaneze youths said.

Regretting that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) was ungrateful to Ndigbo for having selflessly protected their interest in the past, Ohaneze youths reminded them that Nigerian independence was postponed by 2 years at Zik’s request to enable our Northern brothers to be ready”, and that it was largely Igbo senators especially Chief Ken Nnamani, the then Senate President and Senator Uche Chukwumerije that shot down the 3rd Term Agenda at the National Assembly in 2006.

The statement described as “ridiculous” the assertion that the South East does not have enough land mass to ask for a sixth state, saying “that large land mass does not always imply large population”.

“It will be hypocritical to refuse to assign the 6 zonal structure a constitutional role since it has conventionally become part of Nigeria’s political structure. In fact, delegates to the conference were nominated with respect to their geo-political zones.

“It is equitable that the zones should be the federating units rather than the states. The states need to aggregate resources so as to be econo-politically strong enough to counter balance the Federal Government politically.

“It will also enable them to execute mega infrastructural projects such as refineries, regional highways/ monorail network, etc which many individual states cannot afford.  This has led to the current trend towards regional integration by most zones.

“Consequently, we wish to re-affirm the stand of Ohaneze Ndigbo that “power shall go from the South South to the South East, in unbroken succession”, the statement said.