Gboyega Adejumo Lambasts Ndigbo Over Inconsistencies in Thoughts, Restructuring

Gboyega Adejumo Lambasts Ndigbo

 

OpenLife News reports that barely three months to the 2027 general elections, the position of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, ILT, on restructuring has drawn sharp criticism from South-West leaders, with Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo describing the group as confused and inconsistent.

The ILT had rejected the communiqué issued at the Abuja restructuring conference of August 20, 2026, accusing organisers of disregarding the Igbo delegation.

The group proposed a 10-region political structure with regional control of resources and regional police, an enlarged Igbo Region beyond the five South-East states, and called for temporary suspension of the 2027 general elections pending completion of restructuring before May 2027.

Reacting, Adejumo, who led the South-West Zone to the Patriots Constitutional Conference in Abuja, was quoted to say  the ILT proposal was unrealistic and reflected a deeper confusion among ethnic nationalities.

Their Position Is Unrealistic

“What I can say is this, the Igbo are as confused as any. Most of the tribes in Nigeria are in that kind of situation of confusion, of knowing absolutely what next to do,” Adejumo said.

“It could still be part of the main frustration coming out of the fact that no region, except perhaps the core North, is fully enjoying being in this contraption called Nigeria,” he explained.

He said Nigeria’s structural problem dated back to the disruption of the 1951 Action Group restructuring agenda that culminated in the 1953 London Conference.”Many attempts have been made but nothing so concrete has come out.

Restructuring that has now been in the front burner for many years now is not new. It is because the structure was disrupted in 1962, that is why we now say we want to restructure,” he said.

Adejumo noted that the South-West proposal at the Patriots Conference was not diametrically different from what the Igbo were demanding, except for what he called lack of clarity on the part of ILT.

“What exactly are the Igbo saying? They said they reject the recent attempt in Abuja.

“I was the leader of the South-West Zone that went to the Patriots Constitutional Conference in Abuja and we presented the South-West proposal. It is no different from what the South-West has always advocated for, which is not diametrically different from what the Igbo are saying.

“The only thing that is different is that the Igbo seem to not know what exactly is the situation with our problem, where the trouble lies.”

He accused the Igbo and Fulani of approaching union as a contest for what to corner, rather than building a workable federation.

History Of Political Choices

Going down memory lane, Adejumo recalled political choices made by the Igbo elite from 1959 to 1979.”1959 going towards 1960, the Igbo, rather than take the Prime Ministership, they decided to go into partnering with the North… Same thing, well, the Civil War started and it was blamed on the Igbo on January 15, 1966.

Ibrahim Babangida came out and said it was not an Igbo coup.””But then, with all that the Igbo suffered in 1979, they still went back into an arrangement with the North, leaving the South West,” he added.

He revisited the interpretation of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s statement during the civil war, stressing that Awolowo was warning that Nigeria stands on a tripod and allowing the East to go would be a disaster for the West.

What Exactly Do The Igbo Want?

Adejumo questioned the consistency of the latest ILT demands.“Now, talking about what the Igbo have just put out. Is it any different from what was said at Aburi, that was rejected? You want resource control, you want this, you want that. You reject restructuring. So, what exactly do you want?”

He said the Yoruba position had been consistent from the 1978-79 Constituent Assembly, through the 1991 statement of Alao-Aka Bashorun, to the 2014 National Conference, which he described as providing the best resolutions since the 1963 Constitution, but which former President Muhammadu Buhari refused to implement.

“The Yoruba will always want regionalism, but along with statism. Because the Ondo man will say, I’m not going back to Ibadan. The Ekiti man will say, I’m not going back to Ibadan. But the question I always tell them is, is Abuja nearer to you than Ibadan?”

On agitations for Yoruba nation, he said: “Here we are, even within the Yoruba, some people are shouting for Yoruba nation. But where is the pathway? I don’t see it… So, it was all a farce.”

Go Back To Drawing Board

Adejumo advised ILT to rethink its approach and build alliances.“The only way you can create a nation out of any nation is by mass movement. If the people rise and say this is it, and they are not relenting, most likely they are going to get it.

“Or there is a serious crisis, chaos, in which even the government is not existing anymore.”

“Everybody is focused on the election. This election, we don’t know what the outcome will be. But, even if there is going to be a recourse to something, it will have to be after the election.”

“What the Igbo need to do is go back to the drawing board and come up with something realistic and begin to liaise with other groups.

“We have to understand what we want out of Nigeria,” he said.

He warned that separation does not guarantee prosperity, citing Sudan and Ethiopia/Eritrea, and called for dialogue.“I would rather we choose a dialogue so that we can at least know that we can settle things amicably… Let the Igbo too come with their own. Do not leave anyone behind.”

The ILT proposal had also drawn reactions from other groups, including Afenifere which rejected regionalism as capable of causing political destabilisation, and the Arewa Consultative Forum which described the call to suspend 2027 elections as unconstitutional.