Biafra has come through national inclusion

From Emmanuel Uzor, Awka

Minister of Works David Umahi has called on Igbo people across the world to lay aside every lingering agitation for the creation of a separate Biafran nation, stressing that national inclusion has addressed the age-long agitation.

Umahi said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has already given Ndigbo what they sought for decades, not through secession, but through unprecedented inclusion in the national grid of governance and development.

He made this assertion during his inspection tour of the ongoing Enugu–Anambra Road mega projects, where he addressed stakeholders, contractors and community leaders.

He explained that the historical push for Biafran secession was born out of years of neglect, exclusion, and underrepresentation at the federal level.

“But today, that narrative has shifted dramatically under President Tinubu,” he said.

The minister emphasised that President Tinubu has bridged the long-standing gaps by deliberately opening the doors of national development to the South East.

“Every sector in Nigeria now carries a visible imprint of Igbo interest,” Umahi noted, stressing that appointments, policy inputs and infrastructural priorities now reflect true federal balance.

He highlighted that the South East has received its full quota in national appointments, citing his own emergence as Minister of Works, along with several other strategic and “juicy” positions given to Igbo sons and daughters in the current administration.

Umahi further pointed out that life-changing projects are springing up across all states in the South East, many of which were considered impossible in previous administrations.

These developments, according to him, explain why leaders like Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State and others have found alignment with the APC-led Federal Government.

“When a people are fully integrated, respected and empowered within the structure of the nation, then the dream they once chased through agitation has already been achieved through cooperation.

“Biafra was never about breaking Nigeria; it was about being counted in Nigeria. And today, through inclusion, equity and concrete development, Ndi-Igbo are no longer spectators in the Nigerian project, they are co-authors of its future.

“When justice finds a people, agitation loses its voice. When the road is finally built and the home is secured, no one needs to flee the house.”