Ohanaeze Ndigbo Says It Didn’t Send People To Meet With Wike

Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has disassociated itself from a visit to Rivers state Governor Nysome Wike by some of its members.

Ohanaeze asserted that throughout the preceding two years, Wike, the governor of one of the seven Igbo-speaking states in Nigeria, had turned down every invitation the group had extended to him.

Naija News recalls that Governor Wike met with some members of Ohanaeze in Port Harcourt earlier this month. During his meeting with them, the incumbent governor claimed that he had never opposed an Igbo-born Nigerian president—in particular, Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

Wike was also quoted as saying that nobody ever brought up the idea of an Igbo presidency to him.

While reacting to the contentious visit to the governor by some Ohanaeze officials, Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Amb. Okey Emuchy said in a statement on Tuesday that Wike doesn’t attend to the organization’s messages.

He revealed that Wike even ignored a letter from Ohanaeze informing him of the death and burial of High Chief Joel Kroham, the Igbo group’s deputy president general and a native of Ahoda, Rivers State.

Emuchay claimed that individuals who traveled to see Wike did so on their own and not in the capacity of an Ohanaeze delegation. He consequently asked the audience to view any information that came from the meeting as a personal journey.

Emuchay said: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide did not undertake any trip to the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Gov Nyesom Wike last week. Those who did go as private individuals not the NEC of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. We had made efforts in the past to seek an audience with the Governor of Rivers State. For over two years, the late President General, myself, and other stakeholders had to engage with prominent Nigerians whose names I am not here to disclose.

“The last effort was a letter I delivered via DHL to the Governor on the 18 of January this year, to among others, inform the governor that the Deputy President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, High Chief Kroham Joel had passed on and the family had fixed a date for the funeral in his village in Ahoda West LGA of Rivers State. I did not receive any response to that letter. Ohanaeze NEC was in Ahoda West local government to bury the late Deputy President General.

“Now, on the issue of Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, we have a court order that was issued on Friday, March 10, 2023. It was a restraining order on him and three others. The legal department of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is doing the needful and in the next few days, that process will be completed. I want to say once more that Ohanaeze has no faction. Okechukwu Isiguzoro was never elected as Secretary General of Ohanaeze. He goes about issuing statements that are injurious to the Igbo nation and our nation, that are littered all over Nigeria and beyond.

“Okechukwu Isiguzoro should cease doing what he is doing and also, we call on his sponsors to understand that Ohanaeze will survive. Ohanaeze is above all of us. Ohanaeze is an umbrella organization for all Igbo, both at home and in the diaspora. So, those who are prodding him, those who are sponsoring him should please think about our people.

“Okechukwu Isiguzoro was never elected. Okechukwu Isiguzoro was a delegate during the Ohanaeze General Assembly that elected the current executives on Sunday, 10 January 2021 in Owerri Imo State.

“Also, people who are using the name of Ohanaeze, it has been turned into a kind of cottage industry, moving around, going from one place to the other, promising people that they would do this on behalf of the Igbo nation, to me, this is not acceptable and we call on these people to please cease using the name of Ohanaeze to extort money from members of the public.

“In conclusion, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide pleads with our people wherever they reside in Nigeria to remain law abiding and troop out on Saturday the 18th of March to exercise their civic responsibility.”