Igbo youths back Ohanaeze Ndigbo, reject deputy speakership position

Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, (COSEYL) has commended Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide for rejecting the position of the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, purportedly micro-zoned to the South East.

The group in a statement signed by its President General, Goodluck Ibem and Publicity Secretary Okey Nwaoru lauded the position taken by the apex socio-cultural group in Igboland, described it as the wish of the Igbo people.

The group said the Ohanaeze Ndigbo position also reflects and resonates with the Igbo quest for political survival as one of the major ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.

COSEYL also chided Reps Member Benjamin Kalu for accepting to be used for the Deputy Speaker position .

The group noted that Nigeria, from its get-go, was established on a tripodal structure by the founding fathers, an arrangement which straddles: the North, dominated by Hausa/Fulani; the East, dominated by the Igbo; and the West, dominated by the Yoruba.

It said the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba nations have up till now continued to retain their positions of power, each having had a shot at the presidency – producing both the president and vice since the return to democracy in 1999 and expressed regret that the Southeast, which is a successor region of the Old Eastern Region with an Igbo majority lags, is forgotten and treated as a minority.