CENTREP Blasts Oyegun: Says Call To Igbo To Join APC To End Marginalization Is Hate Speech

Members of the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged, (CENTREP), Delta State, have condemned the  statement credited to the Nationnal Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), Chief John Odigie – Oyegun that called on the people of the South East geo political region to join the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) in order to overcome the issue of marginalization under the current dispensation.

Describing the statement of Oyegun as hate speech and one laced with hate, malice and animosity in a press release, CENTREP added that, i‎t is clear that the South East geo-political region and other geo-political regions in the country that did not vote for the ruling party were deliberately been marginalized as second class citizens for their failure to support the party during the 2015 General Elections.
CENTREP continued: “‎We believe that the above remark of the APC National Chairman rather than dousing the tension in the South East geo political region has further ridiculed the people of the South East geo-political region and portrayed them under the present dispensation as second class citizens.”‎
‎CENTREP called on the APC National Chairman to tender an unreserved apology to the people of the region, calling on the Federal Government to immediately open a channel of peaceful discussion with the angry youths in the region.
The statement also read: “We totally agree with the United States of America to the effect that IPOB as a body is not a terrorist group but a body of aggrieved youths trying to draw the attention of the Federal Government and the World at large to their plight and the sorry state of their geo-political region.‎
“We make bold to say that remarks such as that of the APC National Chairman which are replete in our polity would go a long way to further escalate the tension in the region rather than douse same.”‎
‎Oyegun is said to have made this call to the Igbo ethnic group ‎during a reconciliation meeting by the party in Abuja to pacify aggrieved aspirants in the just concluded Anambra Governorship primaries.‎
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By Dafe Rukevwe‎
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