South-east, South-south Group Want to Break Away from Nigeria…Push for Self-Determination

A regional advocacy group, The Lower Niger Congress has advocated a referendum of the people of the South-south and the South-east regions.

The Secretary-General of the Congress, Tony Nnadi, said at the Solemn Assembly of Ethnic Nationalities in Port Harcourt that the people of the two regions at the occasion unanimously agreed to seek a referendum by the people to decide the future of Nigeria, as Scotland did in relation to the United Kingdom.

He said the solemn assembly of the ethnic nationalities also mandated the committee to take inventories of all assets belonging to the Lower Niger Congress located outside the South-south and South-east regions.

“The solemn assembly has mandated a referendum in which our people just like the Scottish referendum that happened recently to decide whether they want to continue as one Nigeria; and a mandate for wider consultations with the people ahead of that referendum by way of town hall meetings and consultations with international stakeholders. The assembly also decided that an asset protection guaranteed scheme be put in place immediately to take an inventory of the assets of the people of Lower Niger situated outside the Lower Niger,” Nnadi said.

The President of the Lower Niger Congress, Fred Agbeyegbe stated that the United Nations said the people have the right to seek for self-determination.

“The United Nations says you have the right to self-determination,” Agbeyegbe said.

For her part, Niger Delta rights activist, Anne Kio Briggs said the outcome of the presidential election was a blessing in disguise to the people of the South-south and South-east regions.

“Our agitation has always been for ownership of our resources. We must be strong in our decisions. If they have known on the 28^th of March that they are making the Igbos and the Niger Delta people to come together and forge ahead, they would not have pushed us the way they did," Briggs said.