Ohanaeze Speaks On Appointing Gowon To Negotiate For Igbo Presidency In 2023

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Wednesday denied the claim that it appointed former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd) to negotiate on its behalf for Nigeria to have a President of Igbo extraction come 2023.

While expressing dismay over comments that Ohanaeze Ndigbo has appointed Gowon to lead negotiation for Nigeria presidency of Igbo extraction in 2023, Ohanaeze warned people who make statements using the name of the organisation to desist from such acts or be prosecuted for impersonation.

The umbrella body maintained that it never contemplated involving either Gowon or any prominent politician mentioned by the media, adding that if such moves were to be done, appropriate organs of Ohanaeze Ndigbo will notify Nigerians.

This was contained in a statement issued by its spokesman, Uche Achi-Okpaga, which said the “purported pact” with the former head of state “exists only in the imagination of the miscreants and enemies of the Igbo nation”, and had emanated from a group known as Ohanaeze Youth Council.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo reiterates that there is no organisation as Ohanaeze Youth Council recognized by Ndigbo and that the misguided so-called leader of the group, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, is a warped, egocentric and power-hungry mind who obviously is living in an incontrovertible state of mental delusion.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo regrets the unpatric acts of some Igbo politicians sponsoring these equally unpatriotic irredentists shamelessly flying the kite for them towards 2023,” the statement read.

The group added: “If it is the wish of God that Nigeria will have a president who is Igbo after 2023 elections, it will not be midwifed by an inconsequential group whose only mission and preoccupation is personal aggrandisement and not the collective interest and aspiration of Ndigbo.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo, once more, calls on prominent Igbo sons and daughters to stand up and call these recalcitrant boys to order, because it could have gone to court to stop their irreverent behaviour but for the same reason it refused to face other Igbo recalcitrant groups headlong in its mild skirmishes with them—-a father does not quarrel with his children in the public.

“The apex Igbo group calls on the press and members of the public to desist from using the official logo of Ohanaeze Ndigbo of a red cap and a feather when writing about or referring to the errant group as it is a great disservice to Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, so that when Ohanaeze Ndigbo speaks people will know it has spoken."