Edda Professionals’ League (Pro-Edda) has asked the public to disregard an announcement on the Ebonyi State radio on Sunday and Monday in Abakaliki that Abia Onyeike retracts his criticism of the state government and apologise for an offence he didn’t commit.
“We had it on good authority and from reliable sources that some political interests in Edda (Afikpo South council) banded themselves together to come up with a statement that would purport to coerce, compel, cajole and stampede Onyeike to tender public apology to the government of Ebonyi State and denounce whatever he had at any time said to the media about the government as lie.
“Eventually, after we had alerted the public through several publications, the statement was announced on the Ebonyi State radio asking Onyeike to recant his criticisms of the governor or face traditional sanction. We also make it clear that the persons that signed the statement have no powers in our tradition to traditionally sanction who committed no offence as criticism of government or any leadership is not an offence in our land.
“Moreover, if any son of the land commits an offence, there is a procedure for meting out punishment and that process was never followed by the signatories because they know he didn’t do any wrong. What they did is just cheap politics for their stomach and a way of cheapening the traditional institutions and political office.”