No Rift In Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Says Scribe

APEX Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Saturday, denied any rift in the leadership of the body, stressing that the umbrella body is united under the Chief Enwo Igariwey-led executive.

   It dismissed as “adult delinquency” the committee inaugurated by first Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, last week, to run the affairs of the organization, explaining that such committee is not for Ndigbo.

   Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Joe Nworgu, who stated this in Enugu yesterday, also called for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the committee. 

   A group under the aegis of Ohanaeze Elders Council, led by Amechi, had on Thursday inaugurated a 20-member caretaker committee headed by Chief Ralph Obioha, to run the affairs of Ohanaeze Ndigbo on the guise that the tenure of elected Ohanaeze executive under Igariwey expired January 12, this year.

   It further explained that the committee became imperative following the failure of Igariwey to conduct fresh elections into the body, adding that the caretaker committee is now charged to conduct fresh elections into the body as well as probe its finances.

   But Nworgu said yesterday that the action of Amechi and others amounted to nothing, as there is no vacancy in the executive of the body. He stressed that their tenure of office would continue until 2017 and called on Ndigbo to discountenance the move.

   He said: “My immediate reaction is one of surprise that people (some of them though, whom we respect), who have good pedigree are involved in what someone will call adult delinquency. It is very mischievous to hide under age to start acting in an unconventional way. I am surprised that some of the characters whose pedigree are well known are shamelessly discussing true facts as non-existent because of set objectives which are clear to us and which we all know, that they are playing out a political game of vagrancy.”