The leadership of Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called on the Federal Government to abrogate policies that endanger unity among Nigerians, including the vexing issue of Nigerians being referred to as foreigners in their own country.
President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Kano State chapter, Chief Tobias Idika, said government would have to abolish the notion of indigene and non-indigenes for all Nigerians to feel equal in any part of the country.
Idika, who doubles as President-General, Leaders of Ethnic Communities Residents in Kano State, in a statement, lamented the tragedies witnessed during the year, including terrorist attacks which accounted for countless deaths across the country.
The statement read in part, "The syndrome of indigene and non-indigeneship should be abolished in our everyday life. For Ohanaeze Ndigbo, every Nigerian, be he or she Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik or Ijaw, should have equal rights and should be treated equally wherever they find themselves within the shores of this country.
"We have seen countries with diverse ethno-religious backgrounds, but they co-exist and continue to emerge as political and economic super powers in the world."
Calling on Nigerians to eschew violence, it said, "We call on all Christians and, indeed, Nigerians to use this season to reflect upon the series of crises, calamities and ill-fate that befell Nigeria in the year 2012, and in the same vein channel their thoughts on how to make a better 2013, where wanton bloodshed and slaughter of human lives would not take front row.
