From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
Ohanaeze Ndígbo Worldwide has described a social media clip making the rounds in which one Kennedy Iyere alleged that the organisation demanded payments from him to support a Nigerian President of South East extraction, as the most morally reprehensible fabrication from the pit of hell.
The apex Igbo socio-political organisation said yesterday that Iyere’s claim was “the most fallacious, mendacious and callous of all the falsehoods aimed at tarnishing the image of the Igbo as the Judas category that values money more than human conscience.”
The National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia who was reacting to the said publication on the social media stated that it was on record that Ohanaeze Ndígbo was and still on the forefront of the campaign for the presidency to come to the South East and wonder why the likes Inyere would want to cheaply blackmail the organisation.
He said, “On the advocacy for a president from the South East of Nigeria, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo took the message to all parts of Nigeria; including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III; Chief E K Clarke, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the British High Commission and so many other places.
“The delegations comprised the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Professor George Obiozor; the former President General, Chief Nnia Nwodo, former President General, Chief Gary Igariweh, the Secretary General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay; National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia; others include Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, HRH Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, Professor Anya O Anya, Chief Simon Okeke, Professor Charles Nwekeaku, among others. Several other Igbo activists and interest groups such as Nzuko Umunna led by Senator Chris Anyanwu, Arc Ferdinand Agu, etc were also at the fore-front in the advocacy.
“On December 13, 2021, I personally addressed an Open Letter to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, reminding him that it is the turn of the South East to produce a president for Nigeria and urging him not to contest the 2023 presidency on the grounds of equity, justice and fairness. (2023: Open Letter to H.E. Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu By …https://globalpatriotnews.com › News › Local). I also wrote Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, reminding him that the current Igbo travails is as a result of our support to his candidacy in 2019. A simple search on the Internet will reveal that Ohanaeze had made numerous press releases urging Nigerians and the international community to lend support to the quest by the South East for presidency.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo further propagated the advocacy to the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders (SMBLF) led by Chief E K Clarke, and Chief Nnia Nwodo as the Coordinator General. Other leaders of the SMBLF include Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the Leader of the Afenifere; Dr Pogu Bitrus, Leader, Middle Belt Forum, among others. Our gratitude goes to the SMBLF for their irrevocable position to support an Igbo of the South East for presidency in 2023.
“Similarly, we thank Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for receiving us in his Abeokuta residence about three times. I am inwardly delighted that the unwavering position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has gained a global momentum and unprecedented volcanic eruptions of human passions across the country. Above all, the Ohanaeze message has found expression, resonance and traction in the irrepressible power that is inherent in the Nigerian masses.”
On Iyere’s allegation that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Chief Nnia Nwodo demanded payments from him to attend a meeting at Awka for a Nigerian president from the South East, the Ohanaeze Spokesman said, “The truth of the matter: In October 2020, Chief Damian Okeke Ogene, former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State chapter was contacted by Chief Iyere to invite the seven state presidents from the seven Ohanaeze states. Ogene explained to Iyere that members would be coming to Awka from distant places such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Aba, Ebonyi and that it would not be possible for them to go back to their locations on the same day. Iyere promised to secure hotel accommodation for the seven persons, and that he would also pay for their transport costs.
“At the meeting in one hotel at Awka, Iyere was seated with White men and he highlighted the unbearable injustice to the Igbo by the past Nigerian leaders and the equity in a South Easterner to become the president of Nigeria come 2023. Paradoxically, we were very delighted and also curious that a non-Igbo and White men were championing an Igbo cause. At the end of the meeting, he pleaded with us to manage seventy thousand naira (N70, 000.00); that is, ten thousand Naira each, as transport costs. Some of us refused the money while some others reasoned that it could be misinterpreted if we rejected the ten thousand Naira each.
“I am rather shocked by the depravity and a kindergarten shenanigan with which Iyere painted his encounter with the Ohanaeze Ndigbo; that Ohanaeze Ndigbo demanded payment from him in order to support an Igbo for presidency. This is the most morally reprehensible fabrication from the pit of hell. Surely, we failed to attend his subsequent meetings for two reasons: through a Freudian slip, a stench character deficit became manifest in his maneuvers at Awka; second, he espoused hate, invectives and unwholesome remarks against our then President General, Chief Nnia Nwodo, simply because, according to him, Nwodo did not pick his phone call.
“In the clip that has gone viral, several eminent Igbo sons were mentioned in bad light; for me, Comrade Kennedy Iyere is a pernicious sharp knife within; a conflict entrepreneur, social wasteland, political juggler, stumbling amateur, windbag, mischief maker, name dropper and a mundane predator, best to be avoided.”
Ogbonnia notes that unfortunately for Iyere, most of the names he dropped in the social media were “the cream Igbo titans, political avatars, tested moral edifice, pure, decent and very much above reproach and his cheap and unreflective tarnish; in fact the pillars of the current national movement.”