As part of efforts to give the people of Igbo extraction a greater voice in the nation’s polity, the national and state working executives of the Coalition of Igbo People’s Union (Ogbako Ndi Igbo Nile) have been formally inaugurated.

Speaking at the event, which took place at the NUJ Rescue Mission House in Owerri, Imo State, the National President of the socio-cultural Igbo organization, Ambassador Akpelu Azunna, disclosed that the association is a body of all patriotic Igbo sons and daughters, both in Nigeria and in the diaspora, with the purpose of propagating Igbo unity and even growth and development across the thirteen states where the indigenous Igbo are natives, including Imo, Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Benue, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa.

He disclosed that the group is committed to reinvigorating the Igbo mantra of “be your brother’s and sister’s keeper” and engaging the Igbo intelligentsia and captains of industry to evolve progress and strategies that will reset their attitude and aspirations, with the aim of restoring the lost glory among the comity of all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and beyond.

The guest speaker, Dr. Victor Taiwo, Secretary-General of the Council of Yoruba Elders and National Chairman of the New Nigeria Movement, presented a paper on “The Need for a New Nigeria: An Exposition of Nigeria of Yesterday, Today, and the Future – The Yoruba Perspective.” He stressed the need for people to jettison pride, forget individual interests, put aside misconceptions and misunderstandings, and embrace one another for the overall good of the Nigerian nation.

Other speakers, including Reverend Tola Osinobi, Chairman of the New Nigeria Movement, South West, and Alhaji Yusuf Bagire, Chairman of the Northern People’s Assembly for the New Nigeria Movement, canvassed for equity, fairness, and justice to be used as a yardstick in the nation’s polity.

The National Youth Leader of the group and immediate past Transition Committee Chairman of Anaocha Local Government Area Chief Gerald Ozoh, and the National Woman Leader, Mrs. Josephine Kanu, described the event as a turning point in the history of Nigeria, saying that with love and understanding, more development and progress will be made.

The Chairman of the Anambra State chapter of the inaugural ceremony, Reverend Elvis Okolie, appreciated all that made the event a reality, while the Chairman of the Imo State chapter, Chief Silas Egbe, prayed for God’s intervention in the series of challenges facing the Nigerian nation.