Emeka Emekesiri gives a Report on the Restructuring Conference in Abuja. On behalf of the Forum for Igbo Position on Restructuring (FIPOR) of which Barr. Emeka Emekesiri is the coordinator, we bring to you the Report of the Conference of all Citizens of Nigeria for the Restructuring of Nigeria to Regional Autonomy held in Abuja from 17th – 20th August 2026.

It was a Conference of Concerned Citizens Assembly (CCA) convened by the Citizens Rebirth and Awareness Initiative (C-RAIN) under the leadership of Deacon Owolabi Oladejo and his team members. The Conference was well attended and well represented by all the Regions in Nigeria except the Ijaw Region which had some grievances. Before the Igbo Nation agreed to participate in the Conference, Emeka Emekesiri insisted that the Federal Government must be invited to participate in the Conference. He explained that it has some legal implications. He warned of the consequences of seeking to restructure a country without the consent or knowledge of the leader of the country. He likened it to a Building Engineer trying to restructure a building without informing the owner or landlord of the building. He explained the legal implication of not involving the Federal Government in the Conference, and advised that the Federal Government must be invited to participate in the Conference whether they agreed to come or not, but the letter of invitation should be delivered to the Federal Government and acknowledged. We called Deacon Owolabi and his team members and made our position known that the Igbo Region would not participate in the Conference if the Federal Government would not be invited. Consequently, they agreed with us and the Federal Government of Nigeria was invited which sent the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to the Conference to represent the Nigerian Government. The Attorney General delegated Mrs. Doris Lar from the Federal Ministry of Justice to deliver the Opening Speech and Goodwill Message from the Federal Government of Nigeria. The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Senator John Azuta Mbata, was invited as a Special Guest of Honour to deliver a Goodwill Message. He delegated Barr. Emeka Emekesiri to represent him and deliver his Goodwill Message to the Conference. In his Goodwill Message, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo President General stated in summary as follows:

“Ndigbo believe in a Nigeria that works for all. A Nigeria founded on Regional Autonomy, democracy, equity, justice and shared prosperity. A Federation where every Region controls its resources, secures its people, and competes peacefully for development while the centre handles defence, foreign affairs and currency….”

The Igbo Delegation was led by Prof. Obasi Igwe from Nkporo in Abia State and Dr. Katchi Ononuju from Diobu, Ikwerre, in Rivers State. Prof Obasi Igwe made the presentation while Dr. Katchi Ononuju and other Panelists defended the Igbo Position.

The Position of the Igbo Region is that the Restructuring of Nigeria must be based on indigenous ethno-linguistic Regions or groups of consenting indigenous ethno-linguistic groups. The Igbo Delegates opposed the balkanization of a people through treacherous political boundaries created by the Nigerian Government to separate peoples from their kith and kins.We produced the ancient Maps of Igboland showing that the Igbo Nation had unrestricted access to the Atlantic Ocean through Port Harcourt, Opobo and Bonny, but our access to the sea was blocked by Federal Government of Nigeria which created Rivers State because of the war between Biafra and Nigeria, and told the people of Rivers State to deny their Igbo identity. Therefore, we proved that Rivers State is in Igboland and proposed 14 Regions for the country.

However, we were opposed by some people from Rivers State led by Dr. Okachukwu Dibia from Emohua in Ikwerre who said they were not Igbo and requested a separate Region to be called Rivers Region, thereby making it 15 Regions.

The Igbo Delegates from Ikwerre sent their Position Statement confirming that they are Igbo and would like to remain in the Igbo Region, with a powerful argument drawn from the Willink’s Commission Report of 30th July 1958 which stated that Port Harcourt is an Igbo town. They stated that Rivers State should be called Rivers Province within the Igbo Region instead of Rivers Region. In their Position Statement, the Ikwerre Igbo averred as follows: “We the Ikwerre people are the people described in the Willink’s Report as “the indigenous branch of the Ibos who were the original inhabitants already out-numbered by Ibos from the hinterland”.

Yes indeed, the Ibos from the hinterland settled with us as one people before the war and outnumbered us but we are one people. We stated on Page 51 that. “our problems are different from those of the Ijaws”.“At the end of the Biafra war with Nigeria, the Nigerian Government forced most of us to deny our Igbo blood to gain favour and acceptance from the Federal Government of Nigeria. Those who refused to deny their Igbo ancestry were either killed or persecuted beyond description. The persecution has continued up to this day. Those who agreed to deny their Igbo blood were promoted and favoured by the Government of Nigeria”. “From the days of our ancestors, we have preferred to be a Province within the Igbo Region but not a separate Region. The Willink’s Report made it clear that Port Harcourt is an Ibo town”. The dispute over the status of Port Harcourt and Rivers State remains unresolved and the Igbo people are ready to fight it out until justice prevails. The Opobo kingdom is an undisputable Igbo kingdom founded by Mbanaso Ozurumba from Amaigbo in the present Orlu Senatorial District, of Imo State. He was kidnapped and sold as a slave but worked hard and regained his freedom and founded the Opobo Kingdom. He is known in history as King Jaja of Opobo. His nickname, Juo Ajuo Mana Egbu (ask questions before killing), shortened to Juo Ajuo, was corrupted to Jaja by the British. Opobo land is an Igbo territory founded by our son, King Jaja of Opobo. Ikwerre land is an Igbo territory founded by our people, the Arochukwu merchants. All other clans in the present Rivers State such as Ogba, Egbema, Ndoni, Etche, Ekpeye, etc, are Igbo clans speaking their different dialects.

Prof Obasi Igwe and Dr. Katch Ononuju have granted interviews to the Arise TV showing that the Conference Organizers produced a Communiqué without the input or knowledge of the Igbo Region. He described the Conference as a Charade and deception and repudiated it. Therefore, the Igbo Region has repudiated the Conference that seeks to balkanize the Igbo people and set the Igbo clans in war paths against one another. Igbo people are insisting that the same formula that was agreed upon and adopted to bring back into the Yoruba Region all the Yoruba people carved into Kogi State, Kwara State and other States outside Yorubaland should be applied to bring into the Igbo Region all the Igbo people carved into other States in the South-South and Middle Belt to create one homogenous ethno-linguistic Igbo Region just as the Yoruba Region. The Hausa people of the North said they would no longer stay together with the Fulani people. They would now be called Hausa Region. The Fulani people said that their Region would be called Caliphate Region. During their presentation, Barr. Emeka Emekesiri asked the people of the Caliphate to explain why their people are causing insecurity in the whole Nigeria with kidnappings, banditry and killings. The Caliphate people said that the Fulani people who are causing the insecurity are not Nigerians but Fulani from other countries that came into Nigeria. Now, the question is: “Who brought them into Nigeria to cause insecurity in Nigeria?”

The Ijaw people have not made their presentation. We heard that they had some grievances and were not happy with the organizers of the Conference.

The Igala Region, Savannah Region, Plateau Region and Gurara Region were proposed from the Middle Belt while Cross River and Akwa Ibom want to have separate Regions.

At the moment, the organizers of the Conference have decided to propose 17 Regions including the Rivers Region which the Igbo Delegates are opposed to. We do not know the final decision on this matter but the body language of the organizers of the Conference shows that they would adopt the 17-Regional Structure so that the people of Rivers State would continue to block the Igbo Region from having access to the sea. One of the Delegates from Rivers State said that the Willink’s Commission Report that recommended the creation of the COR State (Calabar, Ogoja, Rivers) was not implemented and therefore the Nigerian Government led by General Yakubu Gowon created Rivers State and South Eastern State in 1967 to landlock the Igbo Region as a military strategy.

He has confessed the truth. It was a military strategy by the Nigerian Government to landlock the Igbo Region. The Ikwerre people disclosed that they were persecuted, forced and bribed to deny their Igbo blood so that they would be favoured by the Nigerian Government. Any person who accepted to deny his Igbo ancestry would be promoted and granted favours by the Nigerian Government but any person who refused to deny his Igbo blood would be killed or persecuted beyond description.

In recent times, the late President Muhammadu Buhari described the Igbo Region as a dot in a circle. It means that the war has not ended. Therefore, the Igbo people shall continue the war by law and political diplomacy until justice prevails. We shall prove that the Igbo people own the lands called Rivers State. The current President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is an Ikwerre man from Eneka, Senator John Azuta Mbata. The Deputy leader of the Igbo Delegation to the Conference is an Ikwerre man from Diobu, Dr. Katchi Ononuju. Our message is simple as delivered by the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide who said as follows; “Ndigbo believe in a Nigeria that works for all. A Nigeria founded on Regional Autonomy, democracy, equity, justice and shared prosperity. A Federation where every Region controls its resources, secures its people, and competes peacefully for development while the centre handles defence, foreign affairs and currency….”It is Regional Autonomy or Nothing.

The Regional Autonomy must be based on ethno-linguistic nationalities or groups of consenting ethno-linguistic nationalities. This is the tested United Nations formula used in Europe based on the rule that the birds of the same feather flock together. We cannot agree to be balkanized and will not cede an inch of Igboland to any other Region. Furthermore, we are not slaves and cannot allow ourselves to be enslaved in Nigeria.

The proposed Federated Regions of Nigeria (FRN) is a voluntary Union. The Articles of Federation proposed by the Conference has an Exit Clause in Article X so that any Federating Region could withdraw from the Union upon satisfying the conditions for Withdrawal. Emeka Emekesiri went through the Proposed Articles of Federation and approved it as it is with an Exit Clause. Surprisingly, during the review process, one of the delegates from another Region said that the Articles of Federation were too loose and could lead to the disintegration of Nigeria because many Regions could satisfy the conditions for withdrawal and withdraw from the Union. Emeka Emekesiri argued that if the new country is fair, just and equitable to everyone, no Region would like to withdraw. He gave an example with the United Kingdom of Great Brittain with four nations in one country which has an Exit Clause upon which basis the Scottish people of Scotland have tried to withdraw but have not succeeded even after conducting their Referendum two times. The delegate from another Region wanted to insert a more stringent condition to stop any Region from withdrawing. He proposed that all the 17 Parliaments from all the Regions must approve the Withdrawal before any Region could withdraw from the Union. Emeka Emekesiri rejected the proposal for all the 17 Parliaments to approve the withdrawal and said that the Articles of Federation were good and acceptable to the Igbo Region with the Exit Clause as it is. Another Delegate from Ane-Igala Region supported Emeka Emekesiri and asked whether the Regions are slaves and entrapped forever in the Union and denied the right to exercise their right to self-determination. There was disagreement on this issue. At this stage, the Review committee could not agree on the Exit Clause and Emeka Emekesiri walked out and advised the Igbo leaders NEVER to sign any Articles of Federation that imposed the approval of 17 Parliaments as a condition for withdrawal because 16 Parliaments can conspire against the Igbo Region to keep us in perpetual slavery. We believe in the pursuit of Freedom by legal methodology and political diplomacy. It is our fundamental right guaranteed under both the Nigerian law and International Law.

Emeka Emekesiri, Esq., PhD Barrister & Solicitor Coordinator, Igbo Delegation,Forum for Igbo Position on Restructuring (FIPOR)

@ Vanguard Newspaper.Biafra existed 500 yrs before Nigeria was created — Emekesiri, original founder of IPOB.

IPOB ostracised him before he registered his own in UK, hijacked, adopted our name.

According to Dennis Agbo: ” Barrister Emeka Emekesiri is the presumed founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. He is the spokesman and counsel of the Supreme Council of Elders of IPOB, which formed the customary government of IPOB. He speaks on the original philosophy of IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu’s incursion. He also explains why Igbo presidency is not a solution to Biafra agitation.

Like Britain, we can have Biafra, Arewa, Oduduwa etc in Nigeria

Bishop Clement Udegbe writes from Florida USA.