The new President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has warned those pretending to be acting for the Igbo group to desist from such ignoble acts.
Iwuanyanwu said the various persons and groups, especially youths, purportedly speaking for Ohanaeze were not representing the socio-cultural body.
An Enugu High Court recently ordered groups not authorised by Ohanaeze to desist from representing the body in any manner.
Addressing a press conference after presiding the maiden National Executive Council (NEC) of the organisation at its National Secretariat in Enugu, Iwuanyanwu explained that people were free to form associations and register with Ohanaeze, but no group has the right to add Ohanaeze to its name. He added that even the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo had no right to speak on any national issue without clearance from the President General.
They have been doing it, but we are going to invite all of them. Maybe, they were not given proper orientation. We have agreed, today, to let bygones be bygones. We are not going to punish anybody for what happened in the past, but, from today, I am going to resist that. Our youths should imbibe the simple principle of success in life; obedience, responsibility, loyalty to the system. If you want to succeed in life, if you want to be a leader and you want people to respect you, you have to obey the laws.
The Ohanaeze Constitution has made it clear that anyone can form his own association. We recognise the fact that Igbo have a very big capacity for development. So, any Igbo man can form an association and come to Ohanaeze to be registered. They are free to form any youth association. We don’t have any problem. They can form any youth association, but you don’t have to call it Ohanaeze. They are only trying to steal the brand name of Ohanaeze. That is wrong if you do that. But they can form an association and the President of Ohanaeze will support them and assist them.
“If they make statements in the name of that association, we are not going to bother. But if you say it is Ohanaeze, we won’t accept that. Every time you open pages of paper, you will see Ohanaeze has said this, at times it becomes contradictory. It is a very big concern to anyone who loves Igbo land.
“I start to think that these things are done for monetary consideration. Enemies of Igbo use those who are vulnerable to financial inducement. We have talked about it and we have made it clear that nobody apart from members of NEC can talk only on issues that have been discussed,” Iwuanyanwu said.
He outlined his administration’s agenda, saying that immediate steps will be taken to establish an Ohanaeze Ndigbo Investment Company. He explained that the equity of the company will be held by Ohanaeze Ndigbo States and not individuals.
Ohanaeze PG said: “This company, in addition to creating goods and services, will create employment opportunities and, also, be a source of funding for some of our projects.”
Iwuanyanwu further said he will pay attention to creation of an additional state for the southeast and integration of thousands of Americans of Igbo descent, who had expressed their desire to be part of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
