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Tag: Atiku’s endorsement

  • Atiku’s endorsement won’t change presidential poll’s outcome, says ACF

    AREWA Consultative Forum (ACF) Secretary-General Chief Anthony Sani has described the last Sunday’s endorsement of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as an exercise that may not affect the outcome of the presidential elections.

    Sani said the endorsement by factions of Afenifere, Ohanaeze, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, the Middle Belt Forum and the Northern Elders Forum was nothing new, as all the groups, excluding the Northern Elders Forum, endorsed the PDP presidential candidate in the 2015 general elections, yet the APC prevailed.

    According to the ACF Secretary-General, “What is new in this endorsement is the fact that only faction of Afenifere, faction of Ohanaeze, and faction of Northern Elders Forum are actually involved. As a result, the endorsement may not affect the outcomes of the election significantly, since factions cannot possibly represent the whole, let alone to represent the regions, which the platforms profess to represent.

    “Many media houses have been asking for reactions on the endorsement of PDP’s presidential candidate in the person of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar by factions of Afenifere, a faction of Ohanaeze, PAN Niger Delta Forum, the Middle Belt Forum and the Northern Elders Forum.

    “We thought there was no need for the reactions because it was nothing new, but because of the generated public interest, we react as follows:

    “The endorsement is nothing new because apart from NEF faction led by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, all the other socio-cultural groups in the endorsement actually endorsed and worked for PDP in 2015, yet the APC prevailed in the elections…

    “As a result, the endorsement may not affect the outcomes of the election significantly, since factions cannot possibly represent the whole let alone to represent the regions, which the platforms profess to represent.

    “You may wish to know that ACF, which is the umbrella body for the North, does not share the views promoted by a faction of Northern Elders Forum led by Prof. Ango Abdullahi.

    “The endorsement of President Buhari by about 71 Generals has dispelled the rumours bandied about that retired Generals have ganged up to unseat President Buhari electorally.”

  • Atiku’s endorsement: Ohanaeze boss Nwodo, scribe in verbal war

    THE crisis rocking Igbo apex socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, worsened yesterday with the President General, Nnia Nwodo and the Secretary-General, Mr. Uche Okwukwu, engaging in claims and counter-claims over who suspended the other for working against the interest of the group.

    The Publicity Secretary of the body, Uche Okpaga on Thursday announced the suspension of Okwukwu as the Secretary-General.

    Okwukwu, in a telephone interview with The Nation yesterday, said the National Executive Committee suspended Nwodo and immediately set up a panel of enquiry to investigate him.

    Digging into the genesis of the crisis, Okwukwu said: “On January 24, a purported Imeobi was held with no governor, no National Assembly member, no local government chairman or counsellor, no deputy governor and no former governor either military or civilian in attendance. There was equally no first, second or third class traditional ruler in attendance except Okwy Nwodo and his brother.

    “They purportedly claimed that they had adopted Atiku and released a communiqué which was not subject to ratification by Imeobi. Then the General Assembly which is the organ that you and I can come and participate in and ratify a major issue of that nature was not given a copy of the communiqué.  When I was called by journalists on the matter, I said there was no communiqué and there was actually no communiqué.

    “On Thursday, he (Nwodo) claimed that he had suspended me. Members of the NEC too on the other side suspended him and appointed immediately a panel of enquiry headed by Prince Richard Ozobu, to investigate him and report to the General Assembly within one month.”

    Enumerating the allegations against Nwodo, Okwukwu said: ” 1.  That he violated the constitution; 2. he unilaterally adopted a candidate without subjecting it to the general assembly’s approval; 3.  misappropriation and misapplication of funds accruing to Ohanaeze; 4 for intimidation, high handedness betraying the constitution of Ohanaeze itself. “Richard has accepted the appointment and they are writing him to submit himself for hearing. If he is found guilty, he will be punished and if he is not, he will be completely acquitted. “It is unfair on Ndigbo to adopt a candidate without subjecting the decision to general assembly’s approval.

    Read also: Ohanaeze Ndigbo: election is war to change Southeast’s fortune

    Individuals in Igboland can support any candidate but when you use the platform of Ohanaeze,  you must bring it to the general assembly.” In a separate telephone interview with our correspondent, Nwodo, dismissed Okwukwu’s claims, saying that 21 of the top executive members of the body suspended Okwukwu.  “We gave him a number of queries because he went to press and misrepresented the decisions of the National Executive Council as well as the Imeobi.

    He even claimed the meeting didn’t hold when he was the one that took all the minutes. “He denied that he made those statements to the press and we had to give him seven days to make public disclaimer of those statements if he didn’t say them and that he will be suspended for seven days until he made the disclaimer and after the disclaimer, he could return to his job. We said if he refused to make the disclaimer, he would be referred to the disciplinary committee.

    “Okwukwu is on his own. He is just a political jobber who is looking for a master to pay him and eclipse our own interest. He is just one person and I don’t give a damn.” Responding to the allegation that he was to face panel of inquiry, Nwodo said: “Who is he to set up a panel? He is alone. He doesn’t have any member of the executive or board with him.”

  • Nwodo under fire over Atiku’s endorsement

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo President-General John Nnia Nwodo (Jnr) has been accused of “rigging” the group’s constitution to support Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi.

    The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, who made the allegation, said Nwodo, deliberately sidelined the Ohaneze’s General Assembly to pave the way for the purported endorsement, which has continued to generate controversy.

    According to the VON boss, the General Assembly is the supreme organ of the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, going by Article 10, sub-Section VI of the Ohaneze Constitution.

    He was reacting to the controversial endorsement of Atiku/Obi ticket of PDP last Thursday, on a day President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the late Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Mausoleum in Onitsha and campaigned in Anambra and Enugu states.

    The endorsement contained in a statement signed by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s leader continued to draw fury and outrage from notable leading lights of the region, including, Anambra State governor Wily Obiano, former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Labour & Productivity Minister Chris Ngige and Foreign Affairs Minister Geofrey Onyeama, among others.

    Fielding reporters’ questions in Enugu, Okechukwu justified the outrage of Igbo leaders over the endorsement, saying the collective interest of Ndigbo nationwide was atrophied by Nwodo’s action.

    He alleged that Nwodo acted arbitrarily in “Rambo” style and utterly circumvented Ohanaeze’s constitution in endorsing the Atiku/Obi PDP ticket.

    He said: “Ime Obi could have first drawn a checklist of Igbo Charter of demands and hand over to the two leading contenders -Buhari and Atiku, thereafter, convene a General Assembly meeting to decide, but this was not done.

    “The tremendous respect one has for our elder brother, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, perished when reports crept in on Thursday 24 January, 2019, on how he regrettably rigged the Constitution of Ohaneze and by extension Ndigbo worldwide by recklessly endorsing Atiku/Obi ticket.

    ”Going through his communiqué the first question is, where is the collective search, the critical and dispassionate appraisal in Nwodo’s endorsement, when in Rambo style he deliberately sidelined the General Assembly, which going by Article 10, subsection VI of the Ohaneze Constitution is the Supreme Organ of Ohaneze Ndigbo?”

    On if there was anything wrong in endorsing a party that picked Peter Obi, a southeasterner as a presidential running mate, Okechukwu said: “Yes it was wrong and near idiotic as Governor Obiano alluded to hurriedly endorse Atiku/Obi when main variables and indicators are not critically and dispassionately considered?

    “One Ime Obi could had first drawn a checklist of Igbo Charter of demands and hand over to the two leading contenders -Buhari and Atiku – and secondly convene General Assembly meeting to decide. This was not done, so why the hurry?”

    Reminded that Ime Obi shall be responsible for rapid response in Ohaneze matters, Okechukwu, an All Progressives Chieftain said: “Is there emergency in 2019 presidential election which was fixed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially when Nwodo mischievously fixed the Ime Obi in a very important date when our foremost elder statesman, the great Zik was being immortalized by Mr. President?”

    On the excuse that Nwodo was not privy to APC’s programme and therefore should be excused, Okechukwu said it was the idiotic angle Obiano alluded to, as the governors and other eminent Igbos  like Chris Ngige pleaded with him to shift the date of Ime Obi, but he refused.

    He said: “Methinks it is sheer mischief for Nwodo not only to refuse to shift the date, but when he agreed to shift time from 4pm to 7pm, only for his Kangaroo Ime Obi to hurriedly finish the meeting before 7pm. This is what angered many who arrived for the meeting shortly before 7pm.

    Confronted with the second point Ohaneze raised that Atiku had promised to restructure the country, Okechukwu retorted: “Atiku’s position on restructuring is at best opaque and candidly is not as robust as Nwodo’s Ohaneze is propagating. No person or group of persons can amend or alter the 1999 Constitution of the Republic of Nigeria without 2/3 of the members of the National Assembly and 2/3 of the State Houses of Assembly. What we have is a rigid constitution.

    “In summary, my position is that it is more politically correct to endorse Buhari if a non-partisan Ohaneze is to endorse any candidate. I therefore commend Southeast governors for their collective resolve to support President Buhari, for his re-election is the surest and quickest route to Nigeria president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Ndigbo’s vote in 2019 for Buhari will simulate a concrete alliance with Buhari’s 10-12 million vote bank in the North”, he added.

    Also speaking yesterday in Awka, the Anambra State capital in a telephone chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ngige describes Ohaneze’s endorsement of Atiku as partisan.

    According to the minster, what played out was mere congregation of party men that hurriedly took a decision without due consultation of the real Ime-Obi Ohaneze Ndigbo.

    He said the meeting was constituted by the President-General of the union with members of the PDP and passed the resolution in favour of Atiku.

    Ngige said: “The purported decision of Ohaneze endorsing Atiku Abubakar of the PDP as the Ndigbo choice was a distraction and should be disregarded by well-meaning Igbo sons and daughters.

    ”The decision was ill-conceived and should be ignored by Ndigbo as it’s a decision propelled by PDP members in Ohaneze Ndigbo, hurriedly taken to drum support for their party members in the coming election.”

    Ngige expressed disappointment that the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation would degenerate into meddling in partisan politics.

    He said that the people of the Southeast have spoken in the rallies attended by hundreds of thousands of Igbo citizens in Enugu and Onitsha as to their political choice.

  • Forum hails Ohanaeze Ndigbo for refuting Atiku’s endorsement

    The Zikist-Buharists-Movement (ZBM) has lauded Ohanaeze Ndigbo for refuting the endorsement of the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar.

    A statement yesterday by its Acting Zonal Secretary, Godwin Onwusi, said: “We are happy that Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s leadership has come to terms with realpolitik; unlike in 2015, when they placed all Igbo eggs in one basket.

    “Buhari’s remaining four years is cast on constitutional stone. To the best of our knowledge, Atiku has not pledged to anybody that he will run for only four years.”

    The ZBM maintained that Buhari’s victory would be a win-win-scenario, among which is the golden opportunity his victory provides in the actualisation of Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

    “We regard this index as vital for it shall end the vexatious issue of marginalisation of Ndigbo since the civil war and create a sense of belonging. We are happy with Ohanaeze’s clarification because it is necessary following misconceptions on the November 14, 2018, event, where some spin doctors spread the news that Igbo leadership had endorsed Atiku for 2019 presidential election.

    “Accordingly, we salute Ohanaeze’s leadership for putting the collective interest of Ndigbo to produce Nigeria president of Igbo extraction in 2023, above narrow pecuniary interest. We pray that Ohanaeze should remain steadfast and bear in mind that our voting for Buhari will better enhance Ndigbo alliance with the North. We need the North where Mr. President has a Vote-Bank of 10-12 million voters, as reflected in the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 presidential elections. This is the pattern of grand alliance the great Zik of Africa had designed for Ndigbo.”