Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, has disputed accusations that it dragged Charles Soludo, the Anambra State governor, to two Igbo deities for criticizing the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Earlier this week, Soludo wrote a post titled “History Beckons and I Will Not Be Silent (Part 1),” in which he predicted Obi’s electoral defeat next year.
He recommended Ndigbo negotiate with the presidential candidates of the two biggest political parties, APC and PDP, because Labour Party’s Peter Obi would lose.
In addition to his article’s widespread condemnation, Ohanaeze allegedly dragged Soludo before two deities in Igbo Land, according to reports.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, responded to Soludo’s article in a rebuttal on the deities by stating that the group has never considered consulting the deities to find a solution to the Igbo dilemma and that the Igbo are profoundly endowed in many ways, the least of which is a recourse to the deities.
It was stated that at a meeting of the group’s National Executive Committee on November 15, 2022, the question of the Igbo’s position in 2023 was thoroughly reviewed.
President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, was quoted in the statement as saying, “Having traversed the length and breadth of the country on an advocacy mission for the emergence of a President of Nigeria from the South East zone in the 2023 general elections, we expected a positive outcome, but the two major political parties, APC and PDP, rejected with impunity and audacity the practice and convention of the last twenty years of rotation and zoning of the office of the President.
“However, the emergence of Mr. Peter Obi as of today has fulfilled all the expectations of Ndigbo to participate in the 2023 Presidential elections, which include winning the party’s primaries and being nominated as the Presidential candidate of the party.
“The situation in the country today offers Ndigbo the opportunity to relaunch themselves in all socio-political dimensions.
“Yet, we must keep asking the rest of Nigerians, ‘what do they really want to do with Ndigbo? The decision will be theirs, and the response will be ours.’
“We rather used the opportunity to thank all the eminent Nigerians that have lent their support or thrown their weight behind the cause of justice, equity, unity, progress, and corporate existence of Nigeria in the person of Mr. Peter Obi.
“For Ohanaeze Ndigbo, it is either one is with us or against us, but never will Nigerians be distracted since history beckons. For several years to come, it will be recorded as “once upon a time, Ndigbo were shortchanged in the political calculations of Nigeria and Mr. Peter Obi from Anambra State braved up to change the narratives and that he was able to fill the Nigerian expectations.
“All the dynamics and intrigues associated with the above scenario will form the essential component of the Igbo history.”
