Igbo being provoked daily –Deputy Senate president

From Petrus Obi, Enugu

DEPUTY Senate Presi­dent, Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday accused the Federal Government of provoking the Igbo and warned that things will not be the same if the Igbo are not given de­served respect as a peo­ple and due recognition in governance.

Ekweremadu, who received a delegation of Ezzeagu chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakehold­ers, led by the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the local government, Chukwudi Ezinwa in his Enugu residence, said the Igbo would resist further attempts to dis­respect or marginalise them in the governance of the country.

His words: “As Ndig­bo, we are going through trying periods; we are being provoked every­day by the government of the country; by the way they treat our peo­ple especially and the marginalisation going on at the level of the Feder­al government.

“We are all aware of the contributions of the Igbo to the growth and development of this country. We have done so much for this coun­try and we deserve some amount of respect; and until we get our respect, Nigeria will not be the same.

“So, any person who thinks the Igbo will be relegated, is joking; we believe in equity and justice. We will never accept a situation where Igbo or any other tribe for that matter is exclud­ed in the governance of this country. Nigeria be­longs to all of us.”

He promised to en­sure that every commu­nity in Ezzeagu council gets potable water in the next four years and an­nounced that he had de­livered some transform­ers and challenged the council administration to put the transformers to use.

“What we are doing is to put Enugu West on the part of irrevers­ible development; to showcase our senatorial zone to show that gov­ernment can work; that representation can be qualitative,” he said.

Ezinwa praised the lawmaker for outstand­ing representation of the Enugu West in the Sen­ate and urged him not to relent, saying there are still some jobs left un­done.

He lamented the state of some federal roads in Ezzeagu and urged the deputy Senate president to do his best in ensur­ing that the roads get desired attention from the Federal Govern­ment.