South East is part of Nigeria and therefore not beyond Governor Ortom – COSEYL tells group

The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, the apex socio-political front for all youth groups in the Southeast region has reacted to a release by a group warning Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to stay away from Southeast politics.

The group said the southeast is part of Nigeria and therefore not beyond Governor Ortom.

COSEYL in a statement jointly signed by Hon. Goodluck Egwu Ibem

President General and Comrade Okey Nworu, National Publicity Secretary, said

Governor Ortom is welcomed to the Southeast and that to this end, his views and positions do not in any way go against those of the people in the region.

The statement reads below.

While the release – whatever it was – was done by a faceless group, COSEYL would, ordnarily, not have bothered to dignify such release but for the gullible and most times, uninformed public. We wish to at this time make it categorically known to such group that as long as Nigeria remains a project in progress, any stakeholder, regardless of their ethnic nationality, has a say in whatever happens outside their region. When herders attacked Benue, it was a national question and never a regional; when the Northeast is unstable, it is a national matter open to discussion by people in the Southwest or wherever.

COSEYL affirms that the position Governor ORTOM stressed is nothing new and should only be amplified so that a national conversation is birthed capable of addressing problems in the nation. According to the statement, Ortom is being accused of using the Southeast to advance his cause. We wish to let the persons behind that article of shame understand that Ortom has, for long, remained a voice in the wilderness. He has been vocal in matters affecting his state (Benue) and outside of the state.

What exactly did Ortom say in his keynote address in Enugu that undermined the position of the governors of the region? Is it the call for infrastructure in the region? Insecurity? Neglect in federal appointments against the federal character principles? All these are plagues the region has suffered and so deserve to be entertained by any Nigerian.

We wish to affirm that the position of Ortom resonates and sits well with yearnings and aspirations of the good people of Southeast and Ndigbo. To this end we believe that:

1)Governor Ortom is vocal and does not mean ill for the Southeast.

2) Governor Ortom is the voice of the common man

3) Governor Ortom is welcomed to the Southeast and that to this end, his views and positions do not in any way go against those of the people in the region.

4)Governor Ortom, in holding such opinion did not in any way, spoken or implied, undermine the position of the five governors of the region.

5) Governor Ortom is in exercise of his civic duties to voice his opinion which is in the interest of not only Ndigbo or the region but the nation in the light of current insecurity challenges.

Anybody who holds a contrary view, COSEYL says, should examine themselves whether they are acting in the overall interest of Ndigbo or are playing ‘the enemy within’.

As a youth coalition that wants peace, both regional and national, we affirm that, if on the basis of federal character principle appointments are equally distributed among all groups in Nigeria, our insecurity wouldn’t be as alarming as it now is.

Any person issuing a release extra to and outside of these does so in his or her interest. We wish to remind characters like the phantom EC Franklin and others to leave Ortom out of their politics of stomach infrastructure as Ndigbo deserve infrastructure, appointments and representation in Nigeria as presently constituted.