Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex-Igbo socio-cultural organisation has ratified and adopted a 40-member national electoral committee nominated by the Chief Nnia Nwodo leadership for the January 11, 2021 election.
The Igbo leaders under the auspices of Ime-Obi (highest decision making organ), also directed that the 2021 national election should be conducted in strict observance with the group’s constitution, stressing that it would continue to ensure that Ohanaeze flourished as the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
Nwodo had told those who attended meeting over the weekend that he had no intention of working against the interest of Igboland, stressing that his administration would not foist a successor that did not emerge from the election in line with the constitution.
He insisted that it was not in his place to anoint his successor, insisting that Ndigbo have always had their own way of doing things, which would not be in short supply during his time.
Nwodo, who chaired the meeting narrated how he became President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo four years ago, stressing that it was not a sole decision but the collective agreement of the Enugu people.
He said even when it was obvious that he was widely accepted by the Enugu people and beyond, other candidates, who were interested in the position, still contested on the elections day.
He announced that while Imo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi had four members each on the list, Delta and Rivers states had three members, explaining that other members were drawn from Ndigbo Lagos, Association of Southeast Town Unions (ASETU), Youth Wing, Ohanaeze Abuja, Aka Ikenga and Izu-Umunna, among others.
He proposed that Chief Ben Obi from Anambra State should head the Electoral Committee while Chief Ferdinand Agu from Enugu State becomes the secretary.
But no sooner had the names been released than discordant voices set in as most members insisted that the list was defective and not all embracing.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, dismissed the list as improperly procured, stressing that he was not consulted before the names from Anambra were chosen.
Ngige stated that the list was full of practicing politicians, insisting that a proper Ime-Obi should be constituted to enable Anambra members of the committee to be submitted.
Arguing along the same line, former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha stated that Imo had no consensus candidate for the President-General position allocated to the state.
Expressing disappointment that Prof. George Obiozor could condescend to the level of becoming a consensus candidate with all his exposure, Okorocha insisted that such action was not known in the Ohanaeze Ndigbo constitution.
He called on Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and others to withdraw their plan for a consensus candidate in the interest of AlaIgbo, stressing that Ndigbo should be allowed to conduct their affairs in an atmosphere devoid of rancour.
