The Chairman Board of Trustees of the All Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing the South East Development Commission bill, stating that the party looks forward to the sincere and honest funding of the Commission.
Okorie, who made the commendation in a statement he issued in Abuja, also expressed regret that the bill was first introduced and killed in 2017.
Also, he expressed regrets for the breach of the former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon, no Victor, no Vanquished and the Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (3R) of the Civil War.
He however called on the South Easterner to cooperate with the Federal Government to help the Commission to achieve its objectives.
President Tinubu recently signed the South East Development Commission bill that was passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly into Act
In his statement, he said, “l wish to commend President Bola Tinubu for signing into law the South East Development Commission Bill.
“It will be recalled that this bill was first sponsored in 2017 by Hon. Chukwuka Onyema representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Anambra State in the House of Representatives. It did not survive a second reading.
“In this year of our Lord 2024, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives resuscitated the bill and expanded its scope. It is with improved lobbying and a more friendly House of Representatives that saw to the passage of the bill with commendable speed.
“The Senate did not delay in giving its concurrent. And when the bill was submitted to the President for assent the processes were carried out expeditiously which gave birth to what has now become the South East Development Commission Act.
“It is heartwarming that this Act among other specified objectives is principally aimed at addressing the infrastructural and other developmental deficits which resulted from the fratricidal Nigeria – Biafra war that ended in 1970.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria under General Yakubu Gowon announced the policy of No Victor, No Vanquished and pledged to implement the programme of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (3R) in the war-ravaged part of the then Biafra enclave which is now in the South East geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
“The commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to deliver on the 3R was observed in the breach. For a period of approximately 50 years after the end of the war, there was no visible federal presence in accordance with the objective of the 3R.
“It is in this light that I see the patriotic action of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in enacting the South East Development Commission Act as a bold step to heal the wounds of the civil war and restore to the people of the South East geopolitical zone their well deserved and long overdue sense of belonging in Nigeria.
“We look forward to a sincere and honest funding of the commission to carry out its core objectives.
“I urge our people at home and in the Diaspora to cooperate and collaborate with the Federal Government of Nigeria to help the commission achieve the lofty objectives for which it is established. It is said that it is better late than never.
“After more than 50 years of the end of the war, the promise made then is about to be fulfilled under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”