By Peter Anosike
A socio-cultural organization in Enugu State, Ndi Nwe Ani Enugu, has frowned at attacks in a national daily and some online media on its respected daughter and the immediate past Nigeria’s Ambassador to Namibia, Lilian Onoh.
Another group under the auspices of Enugu Concerned Professionals had in a statement signed by Dr Frank Udeze and one Pharm. Dozie Nwobu attacked Ambassador Onoh for writing a petition to the Presidency on the conduct of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Following the media attacks, the President of Ndi Nwe Ani Enugu, Mr Okwo Nwa Ogbodo, in a statement at the weekend said that his group would no longer take it kindly with anyone who attacks Ambassador Onoh again, accusing the Minister of Foreign Affairs of being behind the persons attacking their daughter.
Mr Ogbodo noted that the orchestrated attacks by Udeze and Nwobu, where they disparaged their daughter were mere “petty, cowardly attacks that reflect the fear and desperation of their sponsor,” saying that the letter by their daughter to the Presidency on the conduct of the minister only hit the nail on the head.
He noted that the sponsored attacks did not address the issues Ambassador Onoh raised in her petition to the president, but was a diversionary tactic to turn attention from the minister’s alleged known pattern of behaviour, which the patriotic Ambassador Onoh flagged.
The group expressed outrage that Onyeama who they pointed out coasted to a Federal appointment on the back of Enugu State, which was created by the late Chief C.C. Onoh, a former governor of old Anambra State and father of Ambassador Lilian, should turn around to try to destroy their daughter, who is known as a ‘straight arrow’ all her life and who eschewed corruption like her father and had excelled as the first female ambassador from Enugu State.
The group pointed out that Ambassador Lilian also had outstanding performance in all her other postings as records showed, especially “in her very well known work to protect Nigerians in her jurisdiction and her unmatched consular work in Togo, Namibia and Jamaica.”
The group also noted that it was because of her hard work at the United Nations as a young officer that Nigeria could claim back looted funds, wondering why Onyeama would expect that someone from such a noble family would succumb to the lure of filthy lucre of looting of government funds from her Mission, which they alleged was clearly the crux of the vicious, underhand attacks on their daughter.
The group, therefore, called on the minister to caution his media team, saying that their previous restraint was out of respect for the Onoh family, “but would not be silent while he tried to destroy the career of their daughter, who helped to coach and guide him to pass his Senate Screening and also helped him stabilize during his early days at the Ministry when he was woefully out of his depth, stopping him from making too many diplomatic gaffs and embarrassing himself and Nigeria.”
The group reminded Onyeama that even the fact that he owns a house in Enugu is the handwork of Dr Josef Onoh, a special assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and brother of Ambassador Lilian, adding that “without the help of the Onoh family” that would have been tough for him.
Ndi Nwe Ani Enugu expressed disappointment that the minister chose to repay the kindness of the Onoh family towards him by attacking their daughter for sacking somebody who allegedly stole so much money from her Embassy in Namibia.
The group reminded the minister of the Igbo adage that says: “when a madman runs naked and defecates at the altar, he is the first person to call those trying to help him and cover his nakedness ‘mad.’”
They told Onyeama that even in Eke where he comes from and where the late revered mother of Ambassador Lilian hailed, he was not able to garner 10 votes at his polling unit for the APC, vowing that he would never succeed in Enugu State as long as the Onoh family, Ngwo, Udi and the wider Eke and Agbaje families (including many of the Onyeama clan) are not on his side, and guaranteed him nil votes come 2023.
They expressed utter disgust at the minister for his disrespect of the elders of Enugu State, including Senators Chimaroke Nnamani and Ike Ekweremadu who Ambassador Lilian had asked to intervene in the matter with him, but who Onyeama dismissed as ‘has-been politicians’ in a delusional belief that he now had more power as a Federal appointee even when he has no grassroots structure.
They urged him to quietly reconsider his ways which had brought Enugu State great derision because of his alleged untrustworthy pattern of behaviour which was often described in very bad terms by all and sundry, noting that he was held in contempt by most people, which was why he could not even use his position as Enugu’s highest officer at Federal level to unite his own political party because nobody allegedly trusted or respected him.
Noting that the petition to President Buhari by Ambassador Lilian was a record of his activities, the group added that as Enugu State indigenes they would not lift a finger to defend him from any consequence he may suffer as a result of such egregious acts.
They also warned him that should he continue in his attacks on the career and person of Ambassador Onoh who went to great lengths to help him and guide him in the Ministry where she was the highest ranking officer from Enugu, he should prepare to become a refugee once out of office because he would not be welcome in the state.
They advised the minister to apologise to Her Excellency and the Onoh family as well as to the elders of the state who he had allegedly disrespected, pointing out that “Dr. Udeze and Pharm Nwobu exposed themselves as paid lackeys when they claimed to know the great Chief C.C. Onoh because they showed that they were talking about a fictitious Onoh when they referred to Ambassador Lilian as his wife and not his daughter.”