The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has been embroiled in a succession crisis following the vacuum created by the demise of some officeholders. In this interview, Chairman of the Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Rivers State, Jackson Omenazu, spoke with LAWRENCE NJOKU on the alleged attempts to manipulate the January election against his state and the dire implications for the organisation.
A new president general has just been appointed to steer Ohanaeze Ndigbo to election next January. How do you feel about it?
Imeobi Ohanaeze and General Assembly was held on Saturday, December 14, following the communiqué of the governors’ meeting of December 13, which said that Imo State was insisting on completing its tenure even if it is one day. They (Imo State) were given the prerogative to do that, and a new president-general was appointed. But the question is: Rivers State, which has had the opportunity of replacing Deputy President General since September last year, has not been able to do so. Ohanaeze has operated without a substantive deputy president general till date and nobody cares.
The vacuum in leadership, which is still causing some ripples in Ohanaeze Ndigbo, is because of that singular act of injustice. Again, if you follow the Ohanaeze organogram, in the absence of the president general and deputy president general, the most senior in alphabetical order is the Vice President. He should have presided over the meeting, which is Dr Dozie, but he was sitting on the floor while those who do not have constitutional authority presided. That is another constitutional lacuna that was inherently visible in that meeting. I have nothing against Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu, but the process that brought him to power is wrong.
To my mind, if Rivers State can endure one year plus without being a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), one would have expected our brothers from Imo State to have forgotten these 25 days and move ahead. But since they have insisted they must complete their tenure, we are also insisting that Rivers State should complete their tenure as Deputy President General. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We are all Igbos. We are not orphans. We are Igbos from Rivers State. So, the way others are treated should be the way we should be treated. There are no two ways about it. I raised a red flag during the meeting and they tried to shut it down. Justice has no twin brother. Justice is justice and they don’t look alike.
Now, when you look at the composition of Ohanaeze, and from my deductions from that meeting, we were less than 60. Imeobi and General Assembly membership is over 500 members. So, how can less than 70 members constitute a quorum in that exercise that appointed a new president general? So, every decision that emanated from that meeting cannot stand legal scrutiny. We are saying that Rivers State must produce the next president general, and must submit to all the processes and ordinances of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, so that nobody will pick a hole tomorrow when Rivers State emerges and technically knocks us off and asks the Deputy President General to take over.
What exactly are the procedures that should be followed in the election?
The thing there is that it is not the right of the NEC to nominate members of the electoral committee, which they have arrogated to themselves. It is the right of Imeobi. If you follow the Ohanaeze organogram properly and procedure, you will discover that NEC members are not members of Imeobi. So, NEC does not even have the right to say they want to appoint members of the electoral committee. You should allow at least three months for the screening, the campaigns among other things that could usher in a credible process. But they have decided to give it an ad-hoc treatment. These things are parts of the lacuna I have noticed. I am pointing them out to the public to see because those at the helm of affairs in Ohanaeze Ndigbo are bent on doing the wrong thing to achieve a set agenda.
What other agenda do you think they want to achieve, aside from conducting an election in January next year?
Aside from the procedural issues, I suspect an attempt to foist non-members of Imeobi and General Assembly into the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. They have always said that Rivers State is not contributing anything to Ohanaeze, and they want to demonstrate this by anointing a neophyte they can control. Those who have held the group down are bound to continue to feast from it. When they say Rivers State is contributing nothing, I laugh because they want to use it to deceive the gullible. For the governor of Rivers State to appoint an Igboman as commissioner is a great contribution to the Igbo nation. Rivers State is not made up of Igbos alone and for the governor to have appointed a Commissioner from Igbo as a member of state executive council who stays there when the secret of Rivers State is being discussed, what other contribution do they want Rivers State to make? To have done that, Rivers State has shown leadership and commitment and one should expect that the governors of the southeast states should reciprocate accordingly.
We are cautious people and when I want to wrestle with you, the way you position yourself will tell me your style of wrestling. I have every reason to doubt the sincerity of purpose in the election they want to conduct in January. Like I said, a man has seven children and there is an ordinance in the family that its (family) members must eat together, morning, afternoon and night. Breakfast was served, one of the children was not there, lunch was served, and the same child was not there. Dinner was served and the same child was not there and nobody asked where he had gone, including the father of the house.
A caring and loving father would ask where my seventh child is. Where has he gone? Does anyone have an idea, can you go and look for him? These are signs of love and care. So, Rivers State having not been there for over a year and nobody has asked why it is so is an indication that something is not right. Now they have agreed that it is the turn of Rivers State after much pressures and they want to conduct a fresh election that is supposed to bring up a president general from the state, but hurriedly filled Imo State position to last for 26 days and nobody cared to say if we must fill this vacancy, let Rivers State bring their deputy president general.
Sweeping it under the carpet and concentrating only on the president general shows a great deal of malice and hatred and some of us who knew our background and sincere Igbos are not comfortable with such behaviour. Ohanaeze is a family. It is the umbrella that shades all Igbos. One section cannot be in the rain while another section is shaded under the umbrella. It is not the Igbo creed and I would refuse to be convinced that it is the right thing to do
You said Rivers State made a replacement for deputy president general that was not considered? How did it happen?
That replacement was submitted to Imeobi Ohanaeze in writing. I was there and I was the nominee. I went with the state president to make the submission. Even during the last meeting, the state president (Lucky Ikeji), confirmed that the submission was made and that the problem is that I refused to go and bow to Chief Iwuanyanwu. I must say it loud and clear and I insist that I am an Igbo son. I cannot play a second hand citizen’s role. It is not possible. I have not seen that man or woman that can subject me to that.
When it was time for Imo State to produce president general, they had a seamless field day. It was exclusively Imo State business and they provided Professor Obiozor, because that is in accordance with the Ohanaeze constitution. When Joel Kroham became deputy president general, nobody complained from Rivers State. So, when he died before Obiozor and Obiozor later died, it should have been a call for action for the constitution to be implemented. But they did not implement the constitution by filling up the position of deputy president general. It remained vacant until Iwuanyanwu who took over from Obiozor died. It was this negligence that created the constitutional logjam, which they are not ready to address.
This cowboy style of providing leadership for Ohanaeze Ndigbo is against the culture and tradition of Igboland. You are setting up an electoral committee, 26 days to the election. Has it ever happened before in Ohanaeze? Shouldn’t we be wary that successively our three brothers in leadership of Ohanaeze died? Shouldn’t we be thinking that there is something we should be doing differently that we have not done? Is it not the first time two presidents general and a deputy died in the office in one administration? I suggest and still maintain that Ohanaeze should seek restitution. Things are wrong. We should declare a day of fasting and prayer so that God should intervene in our affairs and direct us aright. Setting up an electoral committee in less than 26 days to organise such a magnitude of election is to create loopholes for manipulation and how long should we continue to subvert the rules of Ohanaeze and you expect progress as a people?
It is this ugly system that threw Obiozor up as President General. There is an urgent need to rejig Ohanaeze and make it what it is supposed to be. It is a family and we should act like one. Nobody is more important than the other in Ohanaeze. The organisation should be taken back to the people. This style of undertaker management of Ohanaeze should stop forthwith. We the elite are not the owners of Ohanaeze. The owners are in the communities.
Aside from the issue of deputy president general from Rivers State, how else can sanity be restored in the group?
All that the members want is equity and justice in the relationship with one another. All that they want is brotherhood and love. Everybody should be made an integral part of Ohanaeze and accorded the respect that they deserve, not lip service. A lot of people are sad with what is going on in Ohanaeze Ndigbo. This is an organisation that should speak and protect the interest of all Igbo no matter where they reside in the world. But is that the case today? If not because I have Igbo blood, with the things happening, it is enough for one to turn his back and walk away. But nobody can chase me away from Ohanaeze because I am an Igboman. The Igbo nation that owns Ohanaeze has been driven away and the undertakers have taken over it from the people. It is a sad story that should not be allowed to continue.
