The demand was contained in a letter signed by Mbazulike Amechi and
Raph Obioha, chairman and secretary of Reparation Committee of the
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and was attached to a document distributed to the
delegates of the ongoing National Conference, with a copy sent to
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The group also solicited an apology for the wrongs meted on them (Igbos) by the government.
According to Premium Times, the group demanded that each affected
states should be given the sum of N400 billion respectively. It said the
aforementioned amount should also be paid to Delta State for the
benefit of Anioma area of the state.
The group further requested the Federal Government to invest in a
considerable re-planning of Igbo states with modern structures, urban
water works, a kind of Marshall Plan often used for war-ravaged area.
Below is an excerpt from the 28-page letter titled “Ohanaeze Ndigbo: Atrocities and Injustices Against Ndigbo.”
“It is incalculable to put a price on the death of millions of
Igbos who were killed in the civil war and on other occasions. The
Federal Government should pay N400 billion each to the five states of
the South East as compensation to those who lost loved ones, lost
properties, and those still suffering dislocation today in Nigeria. The
same amount should also be paid to the government of Delta State for the
benefit of Anioma area of the state” it said.
The Committee recalled the Igbo suffering during the 30 months war,
noting that they never conspired nor planned any military mutiny
against the state of Nigeria in 1966. It described the military action
against them as annihilation, pogrom and planned tribal cleansing of the
magnitude of extermination on the pretext of resolving the “Igbo
question,” pointing out that the main function of state is to “guarantee
the security and safety of its citizens, and not turn its weapons
against defenceless people; waging war against them, imposing policies
that marginalises them, declines to compensate them and act as if all is
well.
It stated that any loss of life caused by the state was a crime
against humanity, saying; the Igbos had suffered in Nigeria, and called
on the government to set up a committee to work out the compensation to
settle the civil war issue. It alleged that the Igbo race survived
through the grace of God, considering what they have been through in
time past.
“Starting from 1945, Igbos have been killed with the connivance of
state authorities to appease misguided angers of local people especially
on religious grounds. Let us consider than an Indian writer, Rushdie,
wrote the blasphemous book against Islam, Igbos living in northern
cities of Nigeria were butchered in thousands for something they knew
absolutely nothing about. The targeting of Igbos for the slightest
provocation which the Igbos have absolutely nothing to do with has
become so common place and hardly has the government made any resolution
to assuage the damages” it said.
The committee cited the Niger Delta militant issue and role the
president played, saying: “Your Excellency may question why now. The
Igbos feel confident as a people that you are a man of conscience, a man
of equity and above all, a leader who insists that justice must prevail
at all times. Providence has placed you at the position to resolve this
issue once and for all; after all you were pivotal in the peaceful
resolution of the Niger Delta militancy. The jackboot approach at Odi
and Zaki Ibiam was totally condemned by the civilized world.”
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