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From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Pan-Igbo group, Ndịgbo Royal Heritage (NIROH), has embarked on a mission to reunite the Igbo race 52 years after the Nigeria-Biafra war.
The President-General of NIROH, Dr. Paul Okoye, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Awka, Anambra State capital.
He lamented that the Ndigbo, despite being very successful with many achievements and investments scattered all over the world, do not have anything to boast of in their own homeland, thus making the Igbo land appear desolate.
His words: “About 70 per cent of the investments in Abuja belongs to the Igbo people, about 60 per cent of the investments in Lagos belong to the Igbo people; above 18 million Igbo live in three great states in the North, that is Kano, Kaduna, and Kastina, and about 8 million Igbo live in Lagos mainland alone.
Added to this, he noted that the people of Igbo extraction do not have a role model, unlike the people of other tribes in the country who have people they look up to as their role models, and whose ideology they emulate.
“The Yoruba have Awolowo in the West, and he is still symbolic in their life; the Northerners have the Sultan in the North, and he is still symbolic in their life. Here in the Southeast, who do we have? Who is Zik to us? Do we still remember him?” he questioned.
He, therefore, urged the people to find a common way to right the wrong of the past. According to him, the Unity Day Celebration tagged, “Unification of the Igbo Nation” aims at bringing the Igbo nation together as a people to reawaken the consciousness of brotherhood, love and unity among the Igbo people.
He expressed optimism that the initiative, which would be an annual event, will help to bring back the thing that held the Igbo together before the war.
He disclosed that the five-day maiden event slated to hold this year in Anambra would kick off on November 29, 2022 with a marathon that would start at the Ugwu Nwansike in Ogidi and end at Awka.
