By Adadareporters
The pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has disassociated itself from a publication by a factional secretary of a renegade group of Ohanaeze, one Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, which claimed that Ohanaeze ‘”is angry with President Bola Tinubu’s private visits to France”.
Alex Ogbonnia, PhD, national publicity secretary of Ohanaeze, made the disclosure in a statement. According to him, Isiguzoro “had earlier been disclaimed by Ohanaeze”, describing him as a “meddlesome interloper”.
Quoting Ogbonnia, “The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has been drawn to the news making the rounds to the effect that Ohanaeze is angry over Tinubu’s private trip to Paris.
“In some of the dailies, it reads ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fulfill his constitutional responsibilities by formally transmitting power to the Vice president, Kashim Shettima’.
“The above reckless, harebrained and unguarded statements are credited to one Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, led by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, was tempted to ignore the said press release by a mischief-maker, meddlesome interloper, social climber and media navigator but since our silence may be misconstrued as giving validity to such a whimsical figment of a transactional imagination, this rebuttal becomes very imperative.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has for an umpteenth time disclaims the said Isiguzoro, reiterating that the secretary general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is Ambassador Okey Emuchay. There is no gainsaying that some unreflective Igbo wary transgressors leech on the invaluable and hallowed name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo for narrow, perverse, illicit and pecuniary interests.
“It is indeed very curious that some editors of Nigerian dailies have, true to type, been compromised to remain impervious to reason by turning a cheap lie into media hype; domesticating negative propensities; conveying flawed ethnic renditions; indulging cheap mendacious propaganda; clothing falsehood with elaborate wings and ultimately damaging the corporate image of their nuanced, unethical and unscrupulous publications.”
Ohanaeze urged Nigerian journalists not to recognise Isiguzoro and his publications having hitherto declared that ‘the secretary general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is Ambassador Okey Emuchay’, and not Isiguzoro.
According to Ogbonnia, “Ndigbo all over the world are often incensed that an uncultured maladjusted young man would wake up and issue a press release in the name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo with neither clearance nor consultations with the Igbo leadership. This is a clear case of sabotage to the Igbo nation.
“We have severally appealed to the social deviants that the Igbo, all over the world, owe a profound emotional attachment to their apex socio-cultural organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and as such our sacred identity should not be desecrated upon by the whims, caprices, youthful tempestuousness and immediacies of the uninitiated.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, led by Iwuanyanwu, has neither contemplated a press release on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s trip to Paris nor raised the issue of transmission of power to Vice-President Kashim Shettima.”
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