Igbo Group Sues Government of Nigeria for Exclusion of Southeast States
The Nigerian government was prosecuted by a group from the southeast.
The Igbo Council of Deputies has filed a lawsuit against the government of Nigeria and China Exim Bank in the High Court of Abuja, accusing the government of depriving five Igbo states of capital projects to finance with a $ 22.7 loan. billions.
The question asks China Exim Bank to suspend lending to the Nigerian government until changes are made to include the region in projects.
This is stated in a statement provided by the plaintiffs to SaharaReporter on Wednesday.
Earlier on March 11, 2020, a letter was sent to a Chinese bank in Johannesburg about its involvement in working with the government of Nigeria to exclude the South East from capital projects financed by loans.
One of the petitioners, Austin Okeke, said the group had also filed a petition with the Court of the Economic Community of West African States.
“It is gratifying to note that our lawsuit against the government of Nigeria, China Exim Bank and others will arrive on December 9, 2020 at the Abuja High Court. We are talking about a loan of 22.7 billion dollars, the proceeds from which were deliberately deprived of five Igbo states of Nigeria, ”the message says.
“On March 11, we sent a letter of inquiry to China Exim Bank in Johannesburg, in which they were asked to take the following actions.
“Suspend the loan or revoke the approval of the loan to the Government of Nigeria until it considers or changes the way the proceeds of the loan are allocated to include projects in Southeast Nigeria from which Igbo projects will directly benefit;
“As a condition to tie repayment of the loan to the regions of Nigeria that will inherit the projects, as Nigeria struggles and threatens to dissolve,” said Okeke.
However, he called on the Chinese government to ensure transparency in financing capital projects in Nigeria.
Moving forward, the Chinese government must ensure that all projects are evaluated and open to proposals, following international best practices to ensure standard quality and fair costs. Nigeria’s current government is prone to forecasting cost increases, and future generations are not required to pay inflated prices. If not, we will join China Exim Bank as a defendant in a lawsuit against the government of Nigeria.
“We say this because we do not guarantee the repayment of these loans by other federal units in Nigeria as long as deliberate Igbo discrimination persists in Nigeria.
“Igbo are not the beneficiaries of the loan funds and will not participate in servicing and repaying the loan for principal, factual and legal reasons.
“Igbo will not be responsible for these loans, neither now nor in the future. We will not pawn the rights and interests of our future generations on what they did not participate in and did not benefit from. “
