Igbo remain Nigeria’s most marginalised group – Abaribe

The senator representing Abia South senatorial district in Abia State, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described the Igbo as the most disenfranchised and marginalised group in Nigeria.

He lamented the political imbalance in the country, stressing that allocating only five states to the Southeast is unjust.

Abaribe disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja, during a public presentation of a book: “The Power of Nothing: Triumph and Trump of People’s Voice in Enugu,” written by Ikem Okuhu. The book highlighted themes of electoral integrity and community resilience.

Okuhu’s book, which chronicles the 2023 gubernatorial elections in Enugu State, was praised for its documentation of electoral challenges and grassroots resilience. Abaribe noted that the book offers lessons for reforming Nigeria’s electoral system and addressing its political issues.

Abaribe was represented at the occasion by Hon. Alex Mascot Ikwechegh, a member representing Aba North/South Federal Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

He said: “I would like to say a few things about the Igbos. We Igbos believe in progressivism, and the concept of patriotism and nationalism. And this is why you will see an Igbo man pack up his bag and leave his village to Bauchi to set up shops, buy a piece of land, build a house, and become an employer of labour. That in itself, for me, is nationalism, patriotism, and progressivism.

“That’s why the Igbo man has that enthusiasm in him to develop, to be progressive, and to remain optimistic. That’s why I said that optimism is a virtue every Nigerian and politician must embrace so that Nigeria will always be better. A lot of people might not like what I want to say, but the Igbos, we are the most disenfranchised and marginalized. But all we try to do and encourage our brothers is to support one another because it’s highly needed.”

He said that it’s only when the nation identifies its problems and the conundrum of the political system that it can then begin to identify the clinical solutions of how those problems can be tackled.

He further stressed the need for citizens to remain engaged in politics, arguing that political decisions directly impact every facet of life, adding, “When you say you’re not interested in politics, you’re doing yourself and your family a great disservice.”

In his remarks, Okuhu, also a journalist and public relations expert, explained that his motivation for writing the book was to preserve the history of the struggles and challenges surrounding the 2023 Enugu elections.

He alleged irregularities in the election process, claiming that the Labour Party was the rightful winner.

He added, “We believe and still believe that that election was stolen. And for that reason, I decided to document, as much as I could see then, all the struggles and lives of our people in Enugu into this battle. I keep saying that we shouldn’t be where we are today. We embarked on that project because we were going to win it in Enugu State.

“But unfortunately, what happened happened. And then I thought that the best way to do justice to history was to record history itself, not to blame history and allow other people to tell the story, but to tell the story to make sure that tomorrow, maybe, it might help to correct some of the anomalies; maybe it may serve for information and knowledge purposes.

“I needed to put it out there and ensure that the truth and only the truth were spoken as far as my own experience in the last campaign was concerned.

“The truth is that the Labour Party won that election in Enugu State, there’s no denying it. If you open that book, you will see polling record materials obviously written by one person, the same handwriting.

“You don’t need a forensic expert to know that one person wrote these results and submitted them. The truth is that the majority of the people voted in one particular direction, and the outcome went the other way.”

The event attracted several high-profile attendees, including Senator Okey Ezea, representing Enugu North; Hon. Mark Chidi Obetta, representing Nsukka/Igboeze South; and 2023 Labour Party gubernatorial candidate Chijioke Edega, among others.