Don’t allow S’East govs hijack Ohanaeze, Igbo youths tell Nwodo
* Vow to take charge of January election
By Steve Oko
The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has cautioned the out-going National President of Ohanaeze, Chief Nnia Nwodo, not to allow South East Governors to hijack the leadership of the umbrella Igbo body.
Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, vowed to take charge of the January 2021 election for the new leadership of Ohanaeze to ensure the emergence of Nwodo’s successor via a transparent and credible process.
OYC President, Comrade Igboayaka. O Igboayaka, in a press statement, said Igbo youths were determined to rescue Ohanaeze from political adulteration by the political elite so the socio-cultural body could live up to its made without unnecessary interference from the political class.
According to OYC, the highest legacy that Nwodo can bequeath to the Igbo race is to rescue Ohanaeze from political adulteration and restore credibility in its electoral process.
OYC regretted that of late, Ohanaeze, the once revered apex Igbo body was losing its respect and focus due to unnecessary interference from the political elite especially the South East Governors who they accused of serving Northern interest.
OYC recalled that Ohanaeze Ndigbo was founded on the principle of “Igwe bu ike’, ‘Oha’ being the people and ‘Eze’ the leaders to checkmate Nigeria’s ruthless government which Ndigbo lost confidence and trust in after the civil war”.
According to OYC, “it will be unreasonable, unthinkable and against prime aim of Ohanaeze Ndigbo if it is hijacked and controlled by Southeast governors who were merely installed by the help of the Northern political oligarchy”.
It read in part: “We, therefore, cannot surrender or be cowed to relinquish Ohanaeze Ndigbo to the governors whose allegiances are not with Ndigbo but to the Northern and Western leaders.
“The forthcoming 2021 election of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a liberation time for Igbo youths from the shackles of political slavery. We urge Igbo youths and Ndigbo in general to rise and take back Ohanaeze Ndigbo, or risk being in perpetual slavery.”
OYC said Igbo youths were ready to take back Ohanaeze to advance their political and economic survival in the political quagmire that was eating the fabrics of Nigeria.
The youth body, however, applaud Nwodo “for listening to the voice of reason by Ndichie and Ndiokpu to cancel the ‘political party electoral body’ he constituted in the name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo electoral committee.”
OYC said that all it needed from the Nwodo-led leadership is”a credible, transparent election that would produce its successor devoid of manipulation by the governors.
The youth body insisted that all contestants must be given equal opportunity at the poll, vowing to roundly resist any attempt to impose a candidate on the apex Igbo socio-cultural body.
They also pleased with Nwodo to reconcile with the suspended Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Chief Uche Okwukwu, in the overriding interest of the group.
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