There is no leadership row or tussle in Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, and there is not likely to be one in the near future.
Ohanaeze clarified this in a release by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, on Friday.
Ogbonnia made the clarification following a newspaper publication alleging that the demise of the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, had sparked another leadership tussle, and a return to the tenure and zoning arguments among member-states.
Ogbonnia debunked the claims, adding that, “Ohanaeze’s National Executive Council comprises scholars of diverse fields such that functions of the umbrella Igbo body are being fulfilled, most seamlessly on a daily basis by the appropriate structures under the administrative competence of its Secretary General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay.”
Our correspondent reports that a newspaper report, not THE WHISTLER, quoted one Chief Dr Jackson Omenazu, from the Igbo speaking ethnic of Rivers State, to have declared himself a de facto acting president general to run the affairs of the organisation pending fresh election in January next year.
Omenazu was alleged to have stated that, “I will take over. By the constitution of Ohanaeze and its organogram, I will take over. I am the de facto president general and acting president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. People here from Rivers State are sceptical about our identity because of this level of domination, which has reared its head in Ohanaeze. The conduct of our elder brothers is shameful and immoral and unacceptable.”
According to Ohanaeze, it was “very ill-advised and strange for an Igbo to begin to claim the position of the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, even when the burial committee for Chief Iwuanyanwu is yet to be constituted.”
On an alleged letter claiming that Chief Dr Jackson Omenazu was nominated/selected to replace the late Joel Kroham, who until his death was the deputy president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ohanaeze stated that such a letter was not made available to its NEC.
“It would have been exceedingly insensitive and inconceivable for the NEC to adopt a replacement of kroham based on a mere letter from Rivers State, especially where many of them are very ambivalent and sceptical about their Igboness,” read the statement.
Ogbonnia recalled that during the Igbo Day Celebration held on September 29, 2023 at the Michael Okpara Square, Independence Layout, Enugu, some known Igbo dignitaries from Rivers State were listed for posthumous awards, but none of them showed up.
The statement recalled that Chief Iwuanyanwu in May 2024 led an Ohanaeze delegation to Rivers State in an effort to “embrace our kith and kin”, but “an Ikwerre socio-cultural group, the Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation led by Dr Okachikwu Dibia, sent a red flag, stating that ‘it was insensitive for Iwuanyanwu to be associated with such a claim that the Ikwerre people in Rivers State were Igbo’.”
Ohanaeze blamed former River Governor Nyesom Wike for being the architect of such “ethnic disjointments, identity crisis, and double standards which formed part of his 8-year legacy.”
The statement further stated that Joel Kroham, the deputy president general, had died before Prof Obiozor, adding that when the funeral rites of the president general and his deputy were finalised, the NEC declared the two positions vacant and using the principles of doctrine of necessity, requested replacement from Rivers and Imo states.
Quoting Ohanaeze, “The Imo State Chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo sent the name of Chief Iwuanyanwu to the Governor of Imo State, Sen Hope Uzodimma. Thereafter, the people of Imo State unanimously submitted the name of Chief Iwuanyanwu to the Imeobi-Ohanaeze. The Imeobi sat on April 30, 2023. It had in attendance two state governors. Also in attendance were the two former presidents general, namely Prince Garry Igariwey and Chief Nnia Nwodo. It was Nwodo that moved the motion that Chief Iwuanyanwu be adopted as a replacement to Prof Obiozor. The motion enjoyed unanimous support without a dissenting voice.
“The Omenazu group perhaps failed to follow up the letter which did not even get to the NEC of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.”
Ohanaeze advised Dr Jackson Omenazu to pursue his interest as the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo come January, 2025 “without attaching such words as ‘shameful, immoral and unacceptable’ to the reputation of Ohanaeze”.
The statement added, “It is in his own interest that he should go about his campaigns without giving an impression to the wider world that Ohanaeze Ndigbo has a leadership crisis. More importantly, even the least cultured Igbo know that to struggle for the seat of the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide before the burial committee is constituted is, to say the least, very sacrilegious, imprudent, and unscrupulous.
“We are unshaken in our supreme confidence that the Igbo stock in the Rivers State must ultimately be gravitated to their roots, no matter the length of time.”