C-RAIN to Igbo Leaders of Thought: Nigeria’s Restructuring Must Rest on Consent, Not Nostalgia

A civil-society group behind the Abuja Restructuring Conference has told the Igbo Leaders of Thought that Nigeria cannot be rebuilt by replacing one set of imposed boundaries with another, insisting that every community must freely choose the region it joins.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the Citizens Rebirth and Awareness Initiative (C-RAIN) made the position known on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, in a statement titled “Restructuring Nigeria by Consent.”

It answers publications by the Igbo Leaders of Thought in The Nation of 22 September and Vanguard of 24 September.

THE QUARREL OVER ABUJA

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The Igbo leaders had faulted the Concerned Citizens Assembly (CCA) and its Articles of Federation. Their demands included restoring the old Eastern Region and securing access to the sea. They also raised Nnamdi Kanu’s detention and abandoned property.

ValidViewNetwork gathered that one line in their publication drew C-RAIN’s sharpest response. It proposed that all Igbo communities, now spread across 13 states, should form one ethnically homogeneous and contiguous region with “no other ethnic group between or amongst them.”

C-RAIN called those aspirations legitimate but said the Igbo delegates never openly canvassed them at the CCA. The group said they clash with the Assembly’s mandate.

THE ENUGU RECORD

C-RAIN argued that autonomous regions were not born in Abuja. It pointed to consultations in Ibadan, Kaduna, Enugu, Gombe, Port Harcourt and Jos. It singled out the Enugu engagement of 30–31 July 2025, where Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, President of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, gave the keynote address and Professor Obasi Igwe presented a paper.

According to the statement, that gathering backed autonomous units, strong regional autonomy, a modified parliamentary system, revised revenue sharing and a National Rebirth Commission.

17 REGIONS, 13 SIGNATURES

The group said the Assembly adopted a framework of 17 proposed regions, based on what each region’s proponents said they wanted. Delegates for 13 regions signed the Articles of Federation.

Lolo Chika Ibeme and Barrister Emeka Emekesiri represented the Igbo Region on the Articles of Federation Committee.

C-RAIN added that a committee including Igbo representatives drafted the Communiqué, and participants, Igbo delegates among them, adopted it line by line.

It noted the later rejection by some Igbo delegates “without imputing motives.”

THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONSENT

The argument echoes Ernest Renan, who called a nation “a daily plebiscite.” History gives a people a story, but only consent gives a state its legitimacy. Nigeria knows the cost of ignoring that.

The 1967 carving of the Eastern Region into three states reshaped communities in Rivers and Cross River without any referendum. Those communities still argue about it today.C-RAIN said historical affiliation matters, but history cannot speak for people living in a territory today.

It added that present claims must not erase history either. Where claims collide, it proposed negotiation and, where appropriate, a plebiscite or referendum.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The group said the CCA was “a significant stage,” not the end. It has mandated Regional Consultative Forums where communities can challenge proposals, suggest changes and negotiate disputes.

It conceded that the 17 regions are open to debate and that not every community has given final consent.

The statement carries the names of Owolabi Oladejo, Convener and National Chairman; Ambassador Ali Ocheni, General Secretary; Hon. Bassey Nyong Ekefre, LOC Chairman; and Col. CBD Waziri (RTD).

OBJECTIVE CONCLUSION

The dispute leaves Nigeria’s restructuring debate with a hard question. If consent decides the map, whose consent counts first: a region’s leaders, or the people living in the contested territory? C-RAIN says every affected community. The Igbo Leaders of Thought have yet to answer.