By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu
God willing and other things being equal, the creme de la creme of the Igbo nation will in city of Owerri on the 25th of February this year for a political summit
The summit is convened by Igbo National Council(INC).
The summit will celebrate the theme” Fostering Partnership for National Reintegration”, with the topic” Igbo nation participation in the Nigerian political system: challenges and prospects”.
One thing spectacular about the summit is that it will be chaired by His Excellency, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, while the keynote speaker is Prof. Pat Utomi.The lead facilitator is Dr. Austin Onuoha.
The convener of the summit, Igbo National Council (INC) is a grass root mass- based membership organization with the mandate of the emancipation of Igbo race.
Its further mandate is the reengineering of the Igbo value system, the economy and the political culture.
The council which was established in 2012 is gearing towards strengthening the capacity of the Igbo nation to engage with the political actors in the Nigeria venture for active inclusiveness of the Igbo Race in the Nigeria Project and Africa at large.
INC’s vision is centred on the actualisation of the Igbo dream, and this will manifested through research, organization and action.
There are counter arguments which tend question the validity of summits, seminars and workshops in actualising the Igbo struggle. These arguments seek to validate their claims on the fact that there have been so many of these summits. seminars and workshops without corresponding results.
But if the ideals which the council is committed to are to be relied on, actualisation of the Igbo struggle on the platform of INC may not be far-fetched.
The ideals are strengthening the capacity of the critical mass of the people to engage in participatory democratic struggle to reposition the Igbo race to its rightful position in comity of nations; promotion of human rights as well as the advancement of democracy and social justice through the application of the principle of COA (Consciousness, Organization and Action); building alliances and linkages with other organizations, movements, media, networks, parties, coalitions and individuals, which promote democracy, social justice and sustainable development geared towards the realization of the Igbo dream.
Others are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with individuals, groups, nationalities and revolutionaries fighting for self-determination anywhere in the world; supporting programmes of civic education and leadership development aimed at producing quality leaders with positive value system at every levels of governance; and leading the self-sustenance, elf-preservation and self-determination struggles of the Igbo race.
Furthermore, the group is to mobilize the people to protect, promote and defend the political, economic, safety and socio-cultural heritage of the Igbo race anywhere in the world.
