Owerri – The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists, IBN, on Wednesday said that additional states for the Southeast region should be formed from Igbo communities earlier transferred to North, South, and Central regions, during what it described as “indiscriminate” state creation.
The group’s convener, Mazi Uche Mefor, made this statement to newsmen in Owerri, while commenting on the moves by the National Assembly to create additional states in the South East region. According to the pro-Igbo group, “The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists and the Indigenous People of Igbo Nation for Self-Determination hereby caution against indiscriminate state creation bills by the South-East political representatives that could lead to the balkanisation of existing states in the South-East region. We express a clear preference for additional states formed from the Igbo communities that have been uprooted, gerrymandered, and transferred into the South-South and North-Central regions.
“Our vision and advocacy is for a homogeneous, mono-linguistic South-East region or Igbo Nation. It is imperative that the sponsors of state creation bills, such as those for Orlu, Ekiti, Adada, and others, align their efforts with the proposals for Anioma and others, such as Orashi states. This alignment is essential to ensure the creation of additional state that reflect our vision and proposal.
“We, therefore, strongly urge the sponsors of these bills to synergise and collaborate with the sponsors of Anioma and similar proposals such as Orashi state as part of the South-East region . Such cooperation will promote the establishment of additional state that uphold the interests of the Igbo communities and support our goal of a unified Igbo Nation,” he said.