Igede National Congress (INC) in Benue State has urged president Umaru Yar’Adua to reverse the marginalization of its ethnic group over the years.
President of INC, Ijuo Okpe, who bemoaned the marginalization of his people, advised Yar’Adua to give a sense of belonging to Igede people by appointing their own as minister or ambassador. He also said the marginalization over the years could be reversed by Yar’Adua administration through creation of Agba state from the existing Benue State.
These measures he contended would enable Igede people escape from the continuous political domination and marginalisaton of Tiv ethnic group in the state, lamenting that the ethnic has been neglected.
“A Tiv and an Idoma have been appointed ministers by the present regime. The two ethnic groups have also produced the current governor and the deputy respectively, it is therefore humane to consider the Igede for other political appointments either in the state or at the Federal level”.
He further said: “Our immediate plea to the federal government is to drop one of the ambassadorial nominees from Benue and replace him with an Igede man. Or in the alternative one of the ministers from the state should be dropped and be replaced with an Igede”.
Okpe explained that while INC supports the present government in its resolve to produce its own road map for the rapid transformation of the country, it must not be construed to be elastic. “A truly federal system where the component units are given same opportunities, rights and privileges, irrespective of tribes, population and geographic regions remain the most viable and peaceful solution to the Nigerian Problem “he said.
Reported by James Ibechi, the Editor of the Congress Magazine, and first Published in the Daily Mirror and Champion Newspapers in 2009.
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