Gowon Backs Calls For Restructuring, Admits Igbos Still Marginalized 50 Years after Civil War

Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has backed calls for restructuring of the country.

Speaking at a symposium organized by Igbo Leadership Development Foundation, tagged, ‘National Unity:  Federal Character, Restructuring and Rotation of Presidential Power in Nigeria’, Gowon who was represented by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafi, also admitted that the South East Region has remained marginalized 50 years after the end of the Civil War,

“I believe that a lot of injustice has been done to the Igbo and a constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances and restore hope and confidence.

“Nigeria is big enough for all of us and I believe that the Ndigbo, Middle belt and the Yoruba are the true Nigerians because if you look round our borders, people came from abroad and are still coming but Ndigbo’s have always been there, middle belt have always been there, even Yoruba have always been there.

“People who came in yesterday who have a duty of respect are now the ones talking. Going forward, we must create a federal democracy that will respond positively to all the aspirations of our people not about East-West but all about working together in equality, bringing in the youths and the women to build a new Nigeria,” Gowon said.