The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called on the Presidency of Nigeria not to heed the call to name the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) after Queen Elizabeth, saying such movs can be best for Aso Rock in Abuja or other parts of the North.
This was even as it maintained that the former presidential aspirant of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Adamu Garba, must as a matter of urgency tender an apology to Ndigbo for making such an unhistorical remark.
Africa Today News, New York reports that rouble started when Garba on Friday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immortalise Queen Elizabeth who died, on Wednesday, at 96, by renaming the UNN after her.
While reacting, the Chidi Ibeh-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said such remark was capable of instigating conflict in the country.
According to the statement, ‘The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has cautioned the Federal Government against renaming the foremost and most prestigious University, the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
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‘The University has bequeathed a legacy in south-eastern Nigeria and it’s worthwhile for the former APC presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba to know that the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, was renamed after the late British monarch, and is known as Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Umuahia, yet Nigerians have yet to see the late Queen Elizabeth’s legacies in northern Nigeria. It’s appropriate for the North to have a fair share of the Queen’s legacy.
‘If the Federal Government and the Presidency wish to immortalise late Queen Elizabeth II, it should look at the role of the Queen in granting Nigeria political freedom and independence on October 1, 1960. And the most appropriate place to show gratitude to Great Britain should be at Aso Rock.’
Meanwhile, many Nigerians have continued to react to Garba’s call on social media.