By PETER OKOLIE

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, has decried the high level of ethnic profiling against the Igbo people, urging Nigerians to live in peace and harmony.

The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, said this when the executive members of South East Muslim Elders Council (SEMEC) paid him a courtesy visit in Owerri.

Iwuanyanwu said that rather than unite Nigerians, ethnic profiling against Igbo had the tendency to jeopardise the future of the country and democracy.

He underscored the need for Nigerians to tell a proper story of the civil war, especially to the nation’s younger generation to disabuse their minds from unpatriotic tendencies.

“Nigerians must respect one another and stop profiling people based on ethnicity.

“When an Igbo individual commits an offence, the law should follow the person and make sure the individual pays the price,” he said.

The Igbo leader expressed delight over the visit by SEMEC as well as the existence of an Igbo-Muslim union.

He contended that the Igbo people believe in freedom of worship.

He blamed most religious crisis in the country on selfishness, ignorance and negligence of humans.

According to him, Muslims and Christians worship the same God and they have many things in common, there is no difference.

Iwuanyanwu said: “Today is a defining moment.

“I want you to know that from today, the picture of Islam in Igboland has changed.

“I assure you that under my leadership of the Igbo, you can be sure that you will be integrated into Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“Incidentally, most Igbo people are Christians but we have Muslims among us.

“The Muslim faithful in Igboland are very good and patriotic people, contributing toward the development of Igboland and peace in Nigeria.

“One thing is clear, Igbo require other parts of this country to succeed.

“We cannot exist without other parts of the country,” the elder statesman said.

He opined that the “Igbo Muslims could be the saviour of the Igbos in today’s political situation in Nigeria”.

Earlier, the Chairman of the group, Ahj. Haroun Ajah, said they visited the Igbo leader to commend him for his transformational leadership role of the Igbo people within a short period.

However, the group expressed concerns that as Muslims, they were faced with discrimination and intimidation by Igbo people even in their land.

“The Igbo people of Nigeria both at home and Diaspora should understand that the Igbo Muslims are Igbo first before becoming Muslims and must be given attention.

“Our problem as Igbo in the Nigeria project should not be Islam and an Igbo man or woman being a Muslim, rather, it is our propensities to ignore the critical factors for national integration and even worse, abuse them with impunity,” Ajah said.

He listed some of the critical challenges being experienced by the group to include ignorance and the lack of knowledge and understanding of the difference between Islam and Hausa as a tribe.

He argued that Islam means peace and total submission to the will of God.

He said that there were misconceptions about Islam as Hausa man’s religion, instead of seeing Islam as a Universal Brotherhood Religion of mankind and a comprehensive way of life.

The group also decried the “intentional discrimination and marginalisation against the Igbo Muslims in the scheme of things in the South-East by Igbo political leaders both in Nigeria and in Diaspora.”

“Mockery, jesting and molestation of the Igbo Muslim women in Hijab and Islamic dressing code and mode.

“The tarnishing of image, reputation and that of the Islamic religion by name calling and stereotype is not complimentary at all to the ethics of tolerance and peaceful co-existence in a multi-religious and diverse society the world exists of today,” he said.

Ajah described the challenges as “conspiracy theories against Islam and Muslims in Igboland.”

He appealed to Ohaneze Ndigbo’s leadership to collaborate with SEMEC in a bid to advance Igbo interest and development in the Nigeria project. (NAN)

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