We Won’t Be Silenced Ohanaeze Demands Tinubu Address Southern Marginalization With New States

We Won’t Be Silenced Ohanaeze Demands Tinubu Address Southern Marginalization With New States

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to demonstrate the political resolve required to correct the longstanding imbalance in state distribution across Nigeria.

In a statement titled “A Call for Equity: Proposed 31 States Must Acknowledge Southern Needs”, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the factional Deputy President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, highlighted this demand on Sunday in Abakaliki.……READ MORE 

He emphasized the need to expand the number of Southern states to 19, matching the North’s current total, and called on the President and the House of Representatives to focus on creating one state in the Southeast and another in the South-South. This, they argued, would counteract what they see as systemic marginalization of the Southern regions.

Ohanaeze firmly rejected the recent proposal by the House of Representatives to create 31 new states, labeling it as “an exercise in futility” that lacks credibility and fails to meet essential criteria for sustainable political structures.

The organization praised Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu for dismissing the proposal, warning that such an excessive increase in states would undermine legislative integrity.

Ohanaeze stressed that discussions on state creation should prioritize the South, which has historically been underrepresented. They argued that the North, with its 19 states—largely established under military regimes—enjoys an unfair advantage, fostering political and economic disparities.

The group urged President Tinubu to correct this imbalance, stating that the Southeast, currently with only five states compared to the Northwest’s seven, should receive one new state. The second new state, they suggested, should be allocated to either the Southwest or South-South regions to ensure fairer political representation.

“This adjustment is more than a numerical fix; it’s a crucial step toward addressing the historical grievances of the Southern populace and fostering a more balanced distribution of power across the federation,” Ohanaeze stated.

The organization called on Tinubu to act decisively, emphasizing that the creation of two additional Southern states is not just a policy issue but a “clarion call for justice, equality, and national unity.”

“By correcting this imbalance, President Tinubu will be advancing the cause of justice for Southern regions while dismantling the political and economic structures that have historically marginalized our people,” the statement concluded.