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Tag: John Nwodo

  • ‘Those endorsing Atiku are political jobbers’

    The Buhari Media Organization (BMO) has dismissed the Sunday’s endorsement of the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar by a group of regional blocks, describing it as a gathering of ‘shameless exponents of political adventurism.’

    The group said those endorsing the former Vice President are political jobbers, freelance activist and free-wheeling influence peddlers.

    It added it not surprising members of the socio-cultural groups the individuals claimed to be representing have already disowned the purported endorsement.”

    In a statement by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said: “These are men who in spite of their advanced age are known to be political middlemen who have been out of job in the last three and a half years of the President Buhari administration.

    “That virtually all of them have been disowned by the core membership of the socio-cultural group they are supposed to be representing say a lot about their credibility.

    “One of them Pogo Bitrus, who claimed to be the President of the Middle Belt Forum is from Borno State but is presenting himself as the leader of the umbrella body of the people of North Central Nigeria, as the name suggests.

    Read Also: Endorsement of Atiku, a fraud, says APC

    “It is even on record that Bitrus was the leader of the Chibok community in Abuja but was removed because of his romance with the Jonathan administration at the height of the clamour for the return of the abducted Chibok girls in 2014.

    “As for the Afenifere, it is clear that the duo of Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Yinka Odumakin are using the name as influence-vending franchise on behalf of a group of people they have no mandate to represent”.

    BMO stated the arrowheads of the endorsement are PDP members and sympathisers who were also in the forefront of support for the failed re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “This purported endorsement, which Atiku Abubakar is already celebrating, is nothing more than a case of party members backing their Presidential candidates by subterfuge, as is usual with the PDP.

    “Only recently we saw the PDP faction of Ohaneze led by John Nwodo endorse Atiku Abubakar, but few days later, the Anambra State Government and Ohaneze Youth Council led the deluge of dissenting voices which insisted that the people of South East should be allowed to vote in line with their conscience.

    “As for Ango Abdullahi, the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has questioned his right to speak for and on behalf of the Northern Region.

    “So these so-called Nigerian leaders and elders, led by a known PDP Chieftain, Edwin Clark that claimed they opted for their party’s Presidential candidate because he is ‘capable’, are clearly not representing anybody aside from themselves.

    “And just like in 2015, the fake endorsement is dead on arrival because the people who matter and who heartily received President Buhari at campaign rallies across the country are ready to make their votes count on February 16 by giving him a resounding victory”.

  • A stronger, more focused Ohanaeze Ndigbo emerging – Nwodo

    The President-General of Oha Na Eze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief John Nwodo, said on Friday that it has been able to positively and vigorously discharge its responsibilities in the last two years.

    “Within these two years, we have, to the glory of God, made moderate contributions to the re-jigging of Igbo leadership and the leveraging of Igbo issues in Nigeria,” Nwodo told the News Agency of Nigeria.

    He listed some of the achievements as restoration of the dignity of the Igbo across the world.

    He added: “We have injected a new impetus into the promotion of Igbo language, culture and heritage.

    “We have also embarked on the establishment and promotion of Oha Na Eze Ndigbo activities at local, national and diaspora levels.”

    The president-general also said that the body had built synergy with affiliate groups such as the Igbo Delegates Assembly, the Igbo World Assembly, the World Igbo Congress,Aka Ikenga, Izu Umunna, Njiko Umunna, Igbo Media Forum, among others.

    He said that the group has engaged in building of bridges with other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.

    “The deft and diplomatic handling of potentially explosive issues that could have snowballed into national conflagrations is also testimony to our service to Igboland.

    “These include the Quit Notice to Ndigbo by Northern Youths, the Pro-Biafra agitation, the Herdsmen/Farmers crisis in Igboland, the Python Dance issue and others.

    “This leadership has also encouraged unity and synergy among Igbo governors and leading political actors in the overall interest of Ndigbo.

    Read Also: Atiku not our candidate, says Ohanaeze Ndigbo

    “We have also put in place formidable Youth and Women’s Wings for the organization.”

    According to him, “our intervention led to the military dismantling the proliferation of checkpoints in the South-East.

    “This allowed for smooth vehicular movement in the region, especially during the recent festive season.

    “We have also lent our voice to the call for the restructuring of Nigeria – a drive which has gathered momentum apace, and is almost becoming a national mantra,” he said.

    Nwodo, therefore, encouraged Ndigbo to identify with candidates that support restructuring, noting that soon the group would take a holistic position on the forthcoming elections.

  • Atiku meets with regional leaders in Abuja

    …says Nigeria’s problems need urgent solutions

    Presidential Aspirant and ex-Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday met with leaders of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum in Abuja.

    He is the first presidential aspirant to meet with the leaders of the regional group.

    The meeting is holding in  the house of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, at his Asokoro residence.

    The former Vice President said he decided to meet with the group because he believed that the problems plaguing the country needed to be tackled urgently.

    He said it was the responsibility of the leaders to meet and discuss the challenges confronting Nigeria and find solutions to them.

    “Nigeria is beset with a lot of problems. In fact problems that are so grave that they are likely, if we don’t move fast enough to curtail them, will bring about another national crisis.

    “It is our responsibilities as leaders to engage ourselves in meaningful discourse so that together, we can resolve the problems confronting this country.

    “Particularly, I will like to mention a few key areas where we need to pay attention. One is the structure of our country. Is it working? Is it what we want? At least it has been there for a number of decades. Maybe since the military incursion into our politics since 1966.

    “Is our economy working well? What of other sectors of our public life? Security. Are we secured? Is law and order protecting majority of people in this country? And of course we have the social sector to contend with. Those are problems as far as our educational, health systems are concerned. Even our infrastructural deficits. Count them.

    “And I think without interacting, exchanging views, and agreeing on how best we can resolve these problems whether as socio-cultural leaders or political leaders or leaders of the business community, I don’t think we will be able to resolve these problems,” Atiku stated.

    The President, Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo, John Nwodo, who spoke on behalf of the forum, said the group has decided to invite presidential aspirants on their plans to move the country forward.

    He said: “We have decided to talk with him since he has expressed desire to rule this country, to contest the presidency. We wanted to rub minds with him, to know his views so that by the time we finish this interactions we will be able to assure ourselves which one of them we think have the capacity to reflect our aspiration and rejig our country and bring it to where many will like it to be.

    “We want to see the people who want to represent us. We want to hear from them, we want to be convinced of their capacity to represent us.”

    Those present at the meeting include: Chief Ayo Adebanjo, John Nwodo, Yinka Odumakin, Amb. Godknows Igali,

  • Restructuring: Southern leaders barred from flying to Makurdi

    Group says government descending into military dictatorship

    They were prevented from flying for security reasons – airport Commandant

     

    Some members of the Southern and Middle Belt Forum (southern flank) led by Chief Edwin Clark, were on Monday stopped from traveling to Makurdi to attend the Middle Belt conference on restructuring.

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja after they were disallowed from flying, the group said they were told they could not fly to Makurdi because of security reasons even after securing a charter aircraft.

    Speaking on behalf of the group, the Secretary General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, said the elders spent about five hours at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja trying to obtain clearance to make the journey but were refused by the Commandant of the Makurdi Airport whose name was given as Lt. Commander A. Audu.

    He said: “We arrived in time for our flight today at 12 noon; the airport commandant disallowed us from flying and said we needed to go and get permission to land in Makurdi.

    “We consider this fundamental infringement on our democratic rights of freedom of movement and freedom of association. There is nothing in our law precluding us from moving to wherever we like, from holding an opinion in so far as we do not breach any law in Nigeria.

    “What has happened to us today expresses a lot of doom for fundamental human rights in our country, for the free exchange of ideas as unavoidable instruments of achieving growth and development of our polity.

    “We deprecate the treatment that we were given today, which treatment prevented us from physical joining our brethren in the Middle Belt in a common view which we all hold, a very patriotic view, which we think will be the only way to guarantee the future of our country.” he said.

    Read Also: Restructuring will address IPOB agitation – Atiku

    Nwodo, who joined other southern leaders to watch the live transmission of the conference in Chief Clark’s residence, said that they wanted to show solidarity with the Middle Belt people who he said had been supportive to the forum.

    He added: “Please publicize this for many reasons. One, the teeming crowd that you saw on television in the Middle Belt is our brethren who showed us solidarity in other zonal summits. The fact that we were barred from showing them this solidarity is bound to hurt them.

    “Through this press conference, we want to express our solidarity with them. We want them to know that we are one and the same in our views of the restructuring of the Federation” he said

    The group also faulted the recently signed Executive Order 006.

    He said “Secondly, to deprecate this new tendency. Not too long ago, the President signed into law an Executive order, which gives him the right to seize people’s assets. This is almost like a military government. And we think that this is an intrusion into the principles of separation of powers in our country.

    “It is the responsibility of the legislature to make law, of the executive to implement the law and the judiciary to interpret the law. I do not think that Section 5 of the Constitution gives the President such Executive authority to make laws.

    “The right to property is a fundamental right in a democracy. It cannot be expropriated here without decision of the court. What has happened to us today shows a continuing tendency to slide into a dictatorship in a democratic government. That is condemnable.” he stated

    Asked if the forum suspected any deliberate attempt to sabotage their participation at the Makurdi summit or for other technical reasons, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said “The first jet that was to take us started this funny game of saying that there was a bad weather to Makurdi and that they could not fly. Until we got to other airlines and I asked what’s bad about the weather. They said they were ready to take us.

    “As we were about to make payments, they now said there was landing permit issues. They called the commandant in Makurdi, who said they should send application.

    “The Chief of Staff to the Benue State Governor said we should fax the application to him and to the commandant. We waited at the airport for hours. Eventually, the Chief of Staff had to contact the commandant in Makurdi and was told that the landing permit requested by the first airline was still on their table. At that stage, General C. Ariyo Niege, a veteran ex-soldier, who was head of Nigerian military forces in Sudan, went to the commandant in Abuja.

    Speaking on his encounter with the commandant in Abuja, Niege said he was told they would not be able to fly to Makurdi due to security reasons.

    He said “I pleaded with him that we were having issues in flying to Makurdi for the summit and he told me that for security reasons civilian aircraft were no longer allowed to fly into Makurdi airport.”

  • Igbo youths dismiss attack on Ohaneze national leader

    Igbo youths on Tuesday slammed critics, who verbally attacked the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, and accused him of running the affairs of the socio-cultural group as a private estate.

    The South-South Coordinator of Ohaneze Youth Council (OYC), Chief Chinedu Arthur-Ugwa, asked the critics to leave Nwodo alone and stop causing crisis within the group.

    He said the critics, who paraded themselves as National leaders of the youth wing of Ohanaeze, were misrepresenting the group and misleading the public.

    He said:  “We were surprised that some defunct members of Ohanaeze Youth Wing issued a statement accusing the President-General of meddling into 2019 Presidential elections.

    “To state the facts, the allegations are fabricated by expelled members of the youth group at the national level to attract public sympathy. There is no truth in the allegation.

    “The President-General has been working at uniting Igbos all over the world and recently was in Bayelsa as part of his efforts in restructuring and repositioning Ndigbo in a restructured federation..

    “Nwodo also waded into leadership crisis in Ohaneze Ndigbo Bayelsa chapter. Is this what they called politics?

    “The President-General categorically said that he was not interested in personal gains from the struggle for restructuring, so the allegation is a mere ploy by disgruntled persons parading themselves as Ohanaeze youth leaders.

    “The National Executives of Ohanaeze Youth Wing was dissolved by Ime-Obi  and National Executive Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 2017 and we are getting set for elections later this month, so they are misleading the people.

    “The leadership at the state levels in the South East and South South condemn and dissociate ourselves from the statement and frown at the disrespect to our revered elders and leaders in Ohanaeze Ndigbo,our parent body.

    “We urge the errant youths to refrain from using the media to discredit the organisation and show commitment towards building of a united front for Ndigbo”.

     

  • Ohanaeze urges Igbo to make friends across Nigeria

    Ohanaeze urges Igbo to make friends across Nigeria

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo, an Igbo socio-cultural group, has urged its people living in the north to court more friends so as to actualise the ethnic group’s quest to produce Nigeria’s President in 2023.

    The call is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the 19 northern states and Abuja. The meeting, held in Minna, ended Sunday night.

    The communique restated the group’s resolve to promote one indivisible Nigeria with equal opportunities for all, and urged Igbo people resident in the north to live in harmony with their host communities.

    It lauded the contributions of Mr John Nwodo, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, toward a united and prosperous Nigeria, and urged him to continue to defend the interest of the people.

    The cultural group extended its hands of fellowship to other Igbo associations the world over, and called for more unity in the pursuit of Nigeria’s presidency in 2023.

    The reports that 44 chapters of the group, drawn from across the 19 states of the north, attended the meeting.

    NAN

  • Buhari, Nwodo meet in Aso Rock over Southeast problems 

    Buhari, Nwodo meet in Aso Rock over Southeast problems 

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday met with John Nwodo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Speaking with State House correspondences at the end of the meeting, Nwodo said that the meeting centred on how to find solutions to the problems in the Southeast.

    He said “We had a frank and robust exchange, we discussed problems of the south east and as head of state he is the finale repository of an appeal for the resolutions of those problems. We went into great details about each of those problems and i have confidence that they will give it the attention there deserve.

    “We dealt with problems of development in the south east; basic capital projects which have for a very long time been neglected not just from this government but for a very long time, major arteries of federal highways in the south east have been in complete state of disrepair. Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Aba-Ikoyi Ekpene are virtually impassable.

    “We talked about the inland waterways and the dredging of the River Niger. We talked about the reticulation of gas pipeline on the south east. We export gas from the south east to the other parts of the country, but there is no reticulation of the pipeline and industrial clusters in the south east.

    “We talked about the only international airport we have in the south east which has very bad infrastructure in terms of the buildings that have ravaged by …

    “We got assurance from the president that he will deal with each of those problems.” he said

    On whether the issue of marginalization came up, he said “That was the opening line and that was why we single out these things. Like I have said these problems have been there overtime and we have had several presidents, it didn’t just happen in the last two years. But we expressed the desire that he should be able to address them.

    Asked if the president’s promises can be trusted, he said “There is no reason for me to doubt them because this is the first time I have had this interaction with him. I have the feeling that he spoke to us very frankly.

    When asked if the issue of the indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) came up, he said “We came here for the issues of developments in our place. We talked about IPOB as a symptomatic consequence of the continuous marginalization of the south east over a long period of time.

    “Understandably our children are restive and we want to make sure that the federal government is responsive to the issues that have cumulated in the quintessence of these agitations,” he said.

    On devolution of powers, he said “We did talk about the issue of devolution of powers, the constitution, the paucity of the states and local governments in our place and the president has asked that he be given time to look at this more holistically.”

     

  • U.S. position on IPOB, unfortunate, unacceptable – FG

    U.S. position on IPOB, unfortunate, unacceptable – FG

    The Federal Government has described as “unfortunate” and “unacceptable,” the position of the US Government over the declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB )  as a terrorist group.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the government position Wednesday night in London when he featured on BBC Television programme, “Focus on Africa”.

    The Minister, who stressed that the Federal Government was right in declaring IPOB a terrorist organisation, noted that he could not make up with the US seemingly disagreement with the position.

    “It is very unfortunate, if countries decide to pick and choose which organisations are terrorists and which are not, bearing in mind that terrorism has no boundary.

    “I think what we should do is that every country should work together to ensure that terrorism does not thrive,” he said.

    Speaking on why the Government labelled IPOB a terrorist group, the Minister said, “the acts and utterances of IPOB were acts and utterances of terrorists”.

    “For instance, Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader was caught on tape, saying that they want Biafra and not peacefully, but by force.

    “He declared that if they do not get Biafra, Somalia will be a Paradise with the kind of mayhem they will unleash on Nigeria.

    “The group openly embraced arms and ammunition and the leader set up Biafra National Guard, Biafra Secret Service and openly attacked army formations”.

    When asked by the anchor of the programme, Peter Okwoche, why “other militarised group” like the Fulani herdsmen had not been classified as terrorist group, Mohammed said that “acts of criminality should not be confused with terrorism acts”.

    He explained further: “When an organisation decides to not just attack the Army but set up its own parallel government;

    “When an organisation openly solicits for arms all over the world; when an organisation starts issuing out its own passports and currency and does not recognise the democratically elected government, then it becomes a different thing”.

    The minister said that Nigeria is so fragile and an attempt to allow such excesses from IPOB to continue could attract reprisal attacks from other parts of the country and set the entire country on fire.

    The President General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, who was earlier interviewed on the programme, said that the labelling of IPOB as a terrorist group was “extremely unfair and lopsided.”

  • Ohaneze assures safety of Northerners in the East

    Ohaneze assures safety of Northerners in the East

    Chief John Nwodo, the President General, Ohaneze Ndigbo on Thursday assured northerners resident in the south-east of their safety. Nwodo gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje at the Government House, Kano. He said that every Nigerians could live in any part of the country of his choice without discrimination or harassment.

    “Every Nigerian can live in any part of the country of his choice and no harm will ever come to a Northerner in the East. “When the temperature is high we tend to forget what bind us together and we forget the sweet past. “If there was any disturbance in Kano where we have 1.6 million Igbos, the entire Igboland  would have been in mourning by now,” he said.

    He commended the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and Kano state government for promoting peace and brotherhood among the people. Nwodo said that the visit was to deliver the message of all Ndigbo and leaders in the zone. “Nigeria should not experience war the second time as it will not augur well for the country.

    “We must remain partners in progress of our country as we have seen how our own fathers lived to make it grow and develop,” he said. He said that the unity and peaceful co-existence must be the responsibility of all. The president then urged members of the group to remain law abiding, peaceful and respect the laws of Kano State in particular and the country in general.

    Earlier, the state Acting Governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar told the delegation that the state would always be home for all Nigerians irrespective of their religious beliefs. He said that people of Kano State accepted the Igbos as their brothers and called on them to continue to live in peace with one another for the socio-economic development of the country.

    Abubakar then called on Nigerians to always find an amicable and civilised way of handling issues. “I am calling on Nigerians to always find an amicable and civilised way of settling disputes. “Our diversity is a blessing and we as a government we are in constant dialogue with critical stakeholders in the state to promote peace and harmony,” he said.

    The acting governor then thanked them for the visit and assured them of the administrations commitment to promote peaceful coexistence among different groups in the state.

  • Northerners safe in South East – Ohanaeze

    Northerners safe in South East – Ohanaeze

    The President General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, on Thursday assured northerners resident in the south East of their safety.

    Nwodo gave the assurance when he visited Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje at the Government House, Kano.

    He said every Nigerian is expected to live in any part of the country without discrimination or harassment.

    “Every Nigerian can live in any part of the country of his choice and no harm will ever come to a Northerner in the East.

    “When the temperature is high we tend to forget what bind us together and we forget the sweet past.

    “If there was any disturbance in Kano where we have 1.6 million Igbos, the entire Igboland would have been in mourning by now,” he said.

    He commended the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, and Kano state government for promoting peace and brotherhood among the people.

    Nwodo said the visit was to deliver the message of all Ndigbo and leaders in the zone.

    “Nigeria should not experience war the second time as it will not augur well for the country.

    “We must remain partners in progress of our country as we have seen how our own fathers lived to make it grow and develop,” the Ohanaeze chief added.

    He said unity and peaceful co-existence must be the responsibility of all.

    Kano State Acting Governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, told the delegation the state would always be home for all Nigerians irrespective of their religious beliefs.

    NAN