By Adadareporters
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has dissociated itself from an alleged statement credited to its Acting National Youth Leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, one Chukwuma Okpalaezeukwu, to the effect that “Betta Edu, the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, should be given the benefit of doubt until the series of investigations into her involvement in the alleged N583m financial wrongdoing prove her to be complicit”.
Okpalaezeukwu, in the statement, described the allegations against Edu as an “administrative infelicity and not a financial heist since the Accountant General had confirmed that she did not honour the payment.”
Ohanaeze, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, PhD, described Okpalaezeukwu’s statement as ‘reckless’.
It stated that, “The press release on the Betta Edu by Okpalaezeukwu fails woefully by all standards and traditions of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. The press release is extremely impetuous, and at variance with the philosophy of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.”
The president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, in the release, said, “The Igbo credo is anchored on hard work, resourcefulness, transparency, equity, fairness and an enabling environment for the Igbo ingenuity and entrepreneurship to find full expressions in Nigeria.”
Iwuanyanwu ‘wondered why Okpalaezeukwu would dabble into the activities of the anti-corruption agencies as it affects Edu’.
Ogbonnia stated, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo represents the history, emotions and consciousness of the Igbo. Ohanaeze serves as the Igbo sacred temple which should not, by any stretch of imagination, be desecrated upon by youthful rascality, imprudence and perversions.
“It is, therefore, highly inconceivable that a young man would wake up and issue a press release in the name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo with neither clearance nor consultations with the leadership.”
Ohanaeze, in the statement, declared support to President Bola Tinubu’s commitment ‘to fight corruption, insurgency, banditry and other forms of insecurity in Nigeria’, adding that it ‘vehemently dissociates itself from the Okpalaaezeukwu youthful exuberance’.
