By Luminous Jannamike
ABUJA – The Igbo Community Association in the Federal Capital Territory (ICA FCT) has strongly opposed a Senate bill proposing the elevation of the Sultan of Sokoto and the Ooni of Ife as the sole co-chairmen of the National Traditional Rulers Council.
Representing over one million Igbos living in Abuja, the group described the bill as a threat to national unity and a move that undermines Nigeria’s ethnic diversity. They warned that it could spark social unrest and deepen existing feelings of marginalisation.
In a press statement issued by the President General, Engr. Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, and signed by the Secretary General, Mazi Emmanuel Onah, the ICA FCT urged the National Assembly to reconsider its position.
“It smacks of insensitivity towards the ethnic diversity of Nigeria. We, the leadership of Igbos in Abuja, call for the National Assembly to retrace its steps and avoid being put to public spectacle,” the statement read.
The bill, which recently passed second reading in the Senate, seeks to officially designate the Sultan and the Ooni as co-chairmen of the council, but the ICA FCT argued that such a move fails to reflect the country’s multi-ethnic composition.
The association noted that the Sultan of Sokoto is more of a religious figure than a traditional ruler and insisted that neither he nor the Ooni could claim to represent the cultural interests of all Nigerian ethnic groups.
“The Kanuris are not under the traditional umbrella of the Ooni of Ife or the Sultan of Sokoto. Neither are all the Igbos. The ethnic groups that populate the North Central and South-South regions are not under their traditional rulership,” the statement added.
The group warned against reviving structures that promote inequality, saying that Nigeria must not return to a time when federal recognition and funding were used to marginalise certain regions.
“This beautiful country comprises three major tribes: the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. The National Assembly must respect and appreciate this reality,” the statement asserted.
ICA FCT insisted that equal representation of the three major ethnic groups: Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo is the only fair arrangement for chairmanship of the National Traditional Rulers Council.
“We, the Igbo, will resist it. We will join all willing and good-minded ethnic groups to resist this bold-faced disrespect to other ethnic groups in Nigeria,” the statement declared.
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