From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The senator representing Delta North senatorial zone, Senator Ned Nwoko, has charged Ndigbo, in the South East, to embrace their kins outside the zone, so to strengthen the unity of the Igbo nation.
Nwoko, who spoke with journalists, in Abuja, said Igbo people in different parts of South South, Kogi and Benue states, are still battling with identity crisis, in the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war.
He noted that, for instance, the Asaba massacre of 1966, forced many Anioma people and other Igbos outside the Southeast to deny their true identity as a means of survival.
According to him, “frightened by the rampaging Nigerian soldiers, many of our people had to renounce their Igbo identity just to escape death. Some Anioma people even adopted Benin names because soldiers were combing villages in search of Igbos to kill,”
“The larger Igbo society should embrace its kith and kin scattered across Nigeria. The restoration of our shared identity is part of the unification we must pursue.”
The lawmaker, who is currently championing the creation of Anioma State as the 6th state in the South East, wondered why some Anioma people in Delta State deny their Igbo identity despite all evidence to the contrary.
He added that while a few individuals may choose to identify otherwise, the overwhelming majority of Anioma people are undoubtedly Igbo.