The Association of Igbo Town Unions (ASITU), has re-echoed its determination to continue the battle against the mindless destruction of Igbo properties worth trillions of naira by Lagos State Government.
This association made known this on Friday, during World Press Conference it puts together in Umuahia, Abia State capital, to condemn the ongoing demolition exercise by agents of Lagos State government.
Speaking at the press briefing, the National President of the Association, Chief Sir Emeka Diwe, who was flanked by other executives of ASITU, said that the agents of Lagos State government demolished properties belonging to Igbos withouts proper notice and and feigning ignorance of evidential document to proof that the buildings were properly acquired from the same government which seek to destroy them
He called on the Igbos all over the world, particularly in Lagos, to embraced the Aku Ruo Ulu Investments Initiative, a well researched blueprint which seeks that the Igbos return percentage of their Investments back home.
Chief Diwe was of the view that embrace of the Aku Ruo Ulu Investments Initiative will help to secure Igbo investments contrary to the ongoing destructions of properties of the Igbos going on in Lagos.
He said, ” embrace with renewed vigor the philosophy of Aku Ruo Ulo: let wealth return
home. Invest in Igboland. Build in Igboland. Develop industries in Abia, Anambra,
Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states. Make our homeland an economic powerhouse so
strong, so prosperous, so industrialized that it becomes a foundation of strength
from which we engage Nigeria and the world on terms of confidence, not
vulnerability.
Aku Ruo Ulo is not about retreat or secession; it is about building from a position of
strength. It is about ensuring that while we continue to invest across Nigeria, we
have a home base that is economically vibrant, that cannot be threatened, that
gives us dignity and security. It is about making Igboland so attractive for
investment that people from all over Nigeria will want to come, invest, and build
there; just as we have done in Lagos and everywhere else. That is true nation
building: mutual investment, mutual respect, mutual prosperity”.
The association observed that no other ethnic group in Nigeria has so
thoroughly embraced the idea of a unified Nigerian state through their actions, their
investments, and their presence everywhere, yet the Igbos are consistently made to feel unwelcome.
Chief Diwe said that the world must understand that the Igbo man sees himself as Biafran to the extent that he feels unwelcome in Nigeria, not because he inherently desires separation.
He further explained that the Igbos retreats into ethnic identity when national identity is denied and he speaks of
Biafra when Nigeria speaks to him in the language of demolitions, marginalization,
and exclusion.
ASITU regretted that despite the false claim by Lagos State government that the demolished buildings were illegally erected, yet Lagos State government and her agents have gone ahead to unleash untoward hardship on the Igbos by bringing down their life’s investment that serves as source of livelihood to thousands of dependants. He called on the federal government, international communities and all those who have respect for human right and obedience to rules and order to intervene in the mindless destruction .
