From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Apex Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has accused the Presidency of hobnobbing with Igbo renegades.
It described as disappointing the recent audience granted a group known as Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide by President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina.
Ohanaeze National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, said the Aso Rock visitors were Igbo renegades and impostors who used the sacred name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo for self-gratifications.
He expressed worry that a high-ranking aide of the president could hobnob with such a group even when President Buhari had on January 11 congratulated the new leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo after their election, a day earlier.
Ogbonnia said the January 10 election, at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, Imo State, which produced George Obiozor and the current executive, was adjudged free and credible and was witnessed by chairmen and members of traditional rulers’ council from Igboland, the South East governors led by chairman of their forum, David Umahi, members of the National Assembly of Igbo extraction, Ministers of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige, as well as clergy and several Igbo groups affiliated to Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
He recalled that President Buhari had, while congratulating Obiozor, urged him to deploy his experience within and outside government to forge greater unity of the country.
Emphasising that many other highly placed Nigerians and foreign missions had since sent congratulatory messages to Obiozor and his team, Ogbonnia said it was shocking the presidential aide played host to some people he called charlatans in red cap under the guise of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
“Those who read sinister motives to the Adesina romance with the Igbo renegades posit that as the chief press secretary to the president, one would expect a high degree of prudence, scrutiny and reflection in the discharge of his duties.
“The general impression is that Adesina, a seasoned journalist, has disingenuous ways of fanning the embers of crisis in Igbo land thereby lending credence to the stereotype of Igbo disunity,” the Ohanaeze spokesman alleged.
