…As fear of conspiracy against Rivers heightens

There’s no hidden agenda, Ozichukwu assures 

John Azuta Mbata, Rotimi Amaechi, Celestine Omehia, Chibudom Nwuche, Uche Okwukwu names pop up as possible Rivers’ candidates

 

From Magnus Eze, Enugu

 

The race for the next President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has begun amid fears of alleged vast conspiracy to thwart the rotational presidency that is now constitutionally the turn of Rivers State.

 

Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu Chukwu

 

The Imeobi/General Assembly rose from its meeting on Saturday, December 14, declaring that it was sacrosanct for Rivers State to produce the President General going by the alphabetical arrangement. 

The meeting also fixed January 10, 2025, for the election of a new leadership for the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation.

 

Chief Uche Okwukwu

 

Prior to the very important meeting even before the demise of the former President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, there were insinuations that the late leader was not disposed to relinquishing the seat for Rivers State. 

Iwuanyanwu had stepped in April 2023, to finish the tenure of Imo State, which became vacant following the death of then PG, Prof George Obiozor. Iwuanyanwu was barely a year and two months old on the seat when he also died leaving about six months for Imo’s tenure to elapse. 

 

• Celestine Omehia

 

Amid the insinuations, another prominent Imo son, Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu Chukwu, was presented to the Imeobi Ohanaeze at the December 14 meeting, to finish the remaining 27 days of the state’s tenure.

Ozichukwu’s emergence has continued to elicit mixed reactions especially as he is expected to be the President General for less than a month. 

Not a few believe that there is more to it than meets the eyes. This school of thought suspect that there may be a grand plan to perpetuate him on the seat.

Some persons also doubt that the electoral process including screening of aspirants could be concluded in less that three weeks. 

This further heightens fears that the process may either not be conclusive or transparent.

But National President of Association of Igbo Town Unions (ASITU), Chief Emeka Diwe, assured Sunday Sun that there was no going back on the January election.

Diwe, however, quipped that what he did not know was what the outcomes would be.  

An aspirant to the post of President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, from Rivers State, Chief Omenazu Enyinnaya Jackson, alleged that the January 2025 election might be a mirage after all.

His argument was that the body language of the ‘cabal’ in charge of affairs in Ohanaeze was not indicative of genuine effort to relinquish power to Rivers State.

According to him, the build-up was being done in a manner that it would collapse in due course if tested in a law court. 

For instance, Omenazu alleged that the provisions of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo stipulating that the electoral committee be empanelled by the Imeobi was being violated should the NEC end up consisting the committee.

He claimed that the NEC was setting up the electoral and screening committees so that when a President General from Rivers State eventually emerges in January, the process would be challenged in court and such a candidate might be removed, giving room for a certain Deputy President General from Abia State to be in charge of affairs of Ohanaeze.

Though the proposal by Imo State to be given an opportunity to replace the late Iwuanyanwu was in order, Omenazu stated that unfortunately, the proposal was presented to an unconstitutional body.

“The meeting that was held on 14th December, 2024 was neither an Ime-Obi meeting nor a General Assembly meeting primarily because there was neither a quorum for the Ime-Obi (membership of Ime-Obi is about 91) nor that of the General Assembly (membership, which is about 594).

“Here again, only about 57 people attended the irregular combined meeting of Ime-Obi and the General Assembly.

“Ndiigbo in Rivers are deeply worried about these misguided developments. Indeed, indications are beginning to emerge that there are hidden agenda that are associated with the consuming quest by Imo State to do things unconstitutionally.

“The irregular meeting was to be chaired by an acting President General as outlined in the Ohanaeze constitution; article 13 of Ohanaeze constitution provides: ‘In the absence of the President-General and the Deputy President-General, the Vice President, whose state is next in alphabetical order shall act.’ Consequently, Dr Kingsley Dozie as the acting President General from Abia State should have chaired the irregular meeting. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to guide the deliberations of the meeting.

“Finally, it is instructive to note a fundamental mistake that was made by the newly (replaced) elected PG at the irregular meeting when he announced that the constitution of the membership of the Electoral Committee would be considered in a meeting on Sunday, 15th December, 2024 by the NEC. The Rivers State Ohanaeze would not accept any electoral committee constituted by NEC. Every state must be allowed to submit names of competent, qualified and experienced candidates, wherein Ime-Obi will grant approval to the composition inclusive of its chairman and secretary,” he argued. 

 Omenazu who is the chairman, Elders Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Rivers/Bayelsa states, declared that Rivers State will not accept to embark on an important journey of this magnitude; which is to provide leadership to over 80 million Igbo with a poisoned chalice.

He also raised the issue of injustice against the Igbo-speaking people of Rivers in Ohanaeze with the refusal to allow them fill the vacancy created by the death of Chief Joel Kroham from the state over two years ago, even before Obiozor.

According to him, it was rather curious, pertinent and instructive to observe that the communique of the South East Governors Forum which had asked the Ime-Obi/General Assembly meeting to allow Imo State replace the President General to serve for 27 days, did not allude to the request by the Rivers State Ohanaeze to be allowed the liberty to replace its late Deputy President-General.

Sunday Sun learnt Omenazu insisted at the meeting that Rivers State Ohanaeze be allowed to replace its slot of DPG too.  The invocation of doctrine of necessity is allowed to safeguard or mitigate some unforeseen situations in life. But, “A doctrine of necessity that is not embedded on justice is tantamount to doctrine of malice and confusion,” he had allegedly said during the meeting.

He, then, vowed that the Rivers State Ohanaeze will resist the attempt to be treated like orphans because they are not less Igbo than their brothers in the Southeast.

But Chief John Chukwu Agwu from Ebonyi State opined that the Igbo of the Southeast could still move on without bothering about the Rivers State people.

He said that the Igbo were always misfiring without learning from past events and experiences.

Agwu wondered why Igbo was bothered about Rivers State people including the Ikweres when many of them had not accepted/agreed that they are Igbo let alone being full-blooded Ndigbo.

He urged for the consolidation of the social, cultural, political and economic strata of development around the core Igbo in the five Southeast states and make the bloc the envy of other Nigerians especially those Igbo-speaking people of Rivers, Delta, Kogi etc.

“The attempt to co-opt those who do not accept us is only a ridicule of our wisdom and lack of strategic vision as they see Ndigbo of trying to annex them and being overbearing. Will a President of Nigeria from Rivers State be regarded or taken as a President from Igbo extraction? Ohanaeze Ndigbo should be wiser!

“The constitution that added those people should be reviewed otherwise Ndigbo should be prepared for more socio-political sabotages at various stages of our leadership and strategic development,” Agwu warned.

Yet Omenazu insisted that issue of whether some Igbo-speaking people of Rivers State are Igbo or not was just mere politics and should not be the determinant for the Ohanaeze President General’s slot to Rivers.

Also, the former Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Chief Uche Okwukwu, had dismissed a group called Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation (IPO), led by one Dr Okachikwu Dibia, which claimed that Ikwere were no Igbo.

Reacting to the issues raised by Omenazu, the Ohanaeze NEC described him as a very well-known social media personality whose dispositions and idiosyncrasies had become a public property. 

He urged the public to discountenance Omenazu and his group trying to cause crisis where there was none.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, the NEC explained that there was nothing wrong with the December 14 meeting as both the Ime-Obi and the General Assembly, were properly constituted.

 “In the first place, the essence of the Ime-Obi/ General Assembly of Ohanaeze was:

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•To secure the final authority of the Ime-Obi to the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) that the next President General of Ohanaeze should come from the Rivers State in line with the constitutional provisions.

•To inform the Ime-Obi that the death of Chief (Engr) Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo created a leadership vacancy in the Igbo socio-cultural body

•To consider the request by the people of Imo State and the resolution of Ohanaeze NEC to the effect that Imo State should exhaust the remaining 27 days, as the President General in line with the Ohanaeze procedures. To this end, Imo State chapter of Ohanaeze led by Barr. C. J. Ihemedu and the Imo State Council of Elders led by HRH Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, presented Nze Ozichukwu Fidelis Chukwu, as a replacement for Chief Iwuanyanwu. 

•To authorize the composition of the Electoral Committee and the Screening Committee for the purpose of the Ohanaeze election on January 10, 2025,” Ogbonnia explained.

He noted that the four points raised all received a seal of approval by the Ime-Obi Ohanaeze, explaining that the house was dissolved to a General Assembly whose function it was to legitimize Nze Ozichukwu as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.

He said that before the deliberations began, the Secretary General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, whose duty it is, in line with the constitution to convene an Ime-Obi meeting pleaded for a doctrine of necessity, as was applied on April 30, 2023 for the replacement of Prof George Obiozor with Chief Iwuanyanwu as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. 

He also pleaded for understanding that the Igbo are at a crossroads arising from an unusual sequence of deaths that had struck Ohanaeze in particular and notable Ndigbo in general. 

He explained that invoking the doctrine of necessity was most expedient to navigate through the unusual phenomenon.

 Ogbonnia said: “We have had occasions to reply Chief Omenazu in the past on the process of replacing the Deputy President General from Rivers State. There is no doubt there was a letter nominating Omenazu as a replacement to Kroham, but he was advised that it is most insensitive for Ohanaeze to adopt a candidate based on a mere letter signed by multiple persons that were unknown to Ohanaeze. 

“The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Rivers State, Dr Lucky Ekeji addressed the Ime-Obi/General Assembly that he had advised Omenazu severally ‘to emulate the Imo State approach for a replacement of their deceased.’ In each occasion the Imo delegation was led by the Chairman, Imo State Council of Elders, HRH Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, His Majesty Eze Oliver Ohanwe and the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Imo State. And that it is inconceivable for Ohanaeze to adopt a candidate for a high and sensitive position such as the Deputy President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo based on an ordinary letter. True to type, Omenazu attacked Ekeji, to the astonishment of the entire audience.”

According to him, many Igbo dignitaries welcomed the emergence of Nze Ozichukwu and the vital decisions that were reached at the meeting. 

He listed some of them to include the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of Enugu State, Prof Chidiebere Onyia; Rear Admiral Allison Madueke (rtd); Prince Gary Igariwey; Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe; Prof ABC Nwosu; Chief Simon Okeke, Prof Elochukwu Amucheazi, Chief Ejiofor Onyia, Lolo Kate Ezeofor, and Chief Chekwas Okorie.

Others were Chike Madueke, Archbishop (Prof) E. O. Chukwuma, Chief Emeka Diwe, Eze Ibe Nwosu, Chief Kenneth Okeugo, Chief Mike Okiro, Prof (Ven.) Chinedu Nebo, Dr Uche Uzochukwu, Dr Pat Onukwuli, Chief Ikechukwu Ujah, Chief Marcellus Nlemigbo, Ambassador Eddy Onuoha, Dr Eme Okoro, Dr Ngozi Olejeme, Eze Uche Dimgba, Eze Christopher Offia, Chief Tony Ukasanya, as well as the Presidents of Ohanaeze in Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers states.

Regardless, the new President-General, Nze Ozichukwu has tasked the Igbo to ensure that only quality men and women with outstanding pedigree are elected to the NEC of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, come January 10, next year. 

At the maiden NEC meeting he presided a day after assuming office, Ozichukwu directed the states’ representatives in the NEC to nominate three persons each; stressing that the persons for the election committee must be men and women of integrity and character. 

He explained that other names will be sourced from the affiliate bodies of Ohanaeze and the civil society. 

He also expressed delight that the Imeobi Ohanaeze resolved that there should be a screening committee to ensure that the incoming NEC comprised men and women with sound education, integrity, vision, knowledge of the Igbo cultural and ethical values, innovativeness, collaborative corporate relations, among others.

However, Ozichukwu stated that though his days in office are numbered, he is determined to leave an impressive legacy behind.

 

RIVERS MEN TO WATCH FOR OHANAEZE PG POSITION 

JOHN AZUTA MBATA

Born in 1960, he hails from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Ibadan. He was a member of the Governing Council of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.

Mbata was a two-time senator from 1999-2007 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), where he was appointed to committees on Defence, Works and Housing, Women Affairs, Finance and Appropriation (vice chairman), Information, Special Projects and Local and Foreign Debts.

A businessman and big contractor, Mbata is Chairman/CEO at Monier Construction Company (MCC) Nigeria Limited.

He is acclaimed benefactor of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, having been said to be instrumental to the latter becoming Chairman of Obio/Akpor LGA in 1998. He has never prevaricated over his Igboness.

ROTIMI AMAECHI

Though Amaechi, like the other of his kinsmen, has not indicated interest in the number one Ohanaeze seat, the former Rivers governor, ex-minister of Transportation and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly for eight years, has all it takes to lead the apex Igbo socio-cultural body.

His Igbo ancestry is not in doubt and he had publicly declared that he is Igbo. Former Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Chief Uche Okwukwu, a close ally of Amaechi, believes that the ex-governor is the best when it comes to who should represent Ndigbo from outside the Southeast.

Born September 15, 1959, and raised in Ubima, Ikwere Local Government Area of Rivers State, Amaechi has enormous political network and stature. But is this what Ohanaeze requires at this period?

CELESTINE OMEHIA

He needs no introduction and does not make pretences about his Igbo origin. He was sworn-in as governor of Rivers State on May 29, 2007, but his victory was later upturned by the Supereme Court on October 25, 2007 and Rotimi Amaechi stepped in. In annulling Omehia’s governorship election, the apex court ruled that Amaechi was the PDP’s legitimate candidate. Amaechi had won the PDP primaries, but the party substituted Omehia at the last moment due to allegations of graft.

In October 2009, Omehia asked the Supreme Court to review their opinion, but the court denied the request.

He has since 1999 remained a staunch member of the PDP in Rivers State. He was Commissioner for Education in Rivers State between February 1992 and November 1993 and was later appointed an adviser to Governor Peter Odili.

A lawyer of 38 years standing, Omehia is 65 years old and hails from the same town, Ubima, with Amaechi, in Ikwere Local Government Area. In fact, they are cousins.

 

CHIBUDOM NWUCHE

Prince Chibudom Nwuche was born in Enugu into the royal family of Clifford Cheta Nwuche and Grace Ogbuta Nwuche. He is from Ochigba town in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State.

A lawyer and politician, he was Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives 1999-2003.

Said to be a Board of Trustees member of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nwuche had hardly participated in Ohanaeze activities.

His father, Eze C.C. Nwuche, the EzeIgbu Upata 11 of Upata Kingdom, who joined his ancestors in 2012, was a prominent member of Ime-Obi Ohanaeze. 

UCHE OKWUKWU

A rights lawyer and Igbo activist, Okwukwu hails from Elele in Ikwere Local Government Area. He became Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and was in January 2019 suspended under the leadership of Chief Nnia Nwodo. His offence was that he misrepresented Ohanaeze on occasions including endorsing the re-election of the then President Muhammadu Buhari at his campaign in Aba, Abia State. 

He actually appeared before the National Executive Committee of Ohanaeze and denied some of the allegations. 

But he was given seven days to retract his statements, failure of which led to his suspension.

He may have naturally emerged the President General if not that he rebelled against Nwodo and led what seemed like a faction of Ohanaeze. 

In 2021, his name was again listed as part of the Chidi Ibeh/Okechukwu Isiguzoro group that claimed to be a faction.

Okwukwu has since then not been part of the mainstream Ohanaeze Ndigbo and would possibly not be considered for the President General position zoned to Rivers State.