AS the date for the national elections draws closer, palpable tensions have started building up in the south east and parts of the south south over who occupies the vacant leadership positions in Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo sociocultural group.
This is as a group, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Stakeholders Congress accused the Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of imposing his ‘candidate’ Barr Nnia Nwodo as the President General on Ndigbo without carrying along all the stakeholders in the state. In a statement signed by the national co-ordinator, Barr Okpara Eme, the group said: “It is obvious that Chief Ugwuanyi has a hidden agenda and this must be checkmated.
He did not carry along all the major stakeholders in Enugu State before his moves to impose Barr Nnia Nwodo on Ndigbo and Enugu people. This is unacceptable and will be resisted. “We warn the outgoing Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership not to lend themselves to be used to achieve the selfish goals of some politicians.”
In a similar development, the south south leadership of the forum also accused certain leaders in the region of making spirited effort to install candidates for positions allotted to Rivers and Delta states in the forthcoming elections. In a statement signed by the coordinator and the secretary, Amadi Fineman and Wigwe Kindness respectively, the group said: “We are aware that these people have released huge funds to achieve this aim and sell the Ohanaeze Ndigbo structure in the region to their party.
This is unacceptable to us,” the group said. Another south east group, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Intergrity Congress also accused a former governor in the region of planning to hijack the elections and put his stooges in vital positions with a view to controlling the geo-political destiny of the state and the South East in 2019. Reacting to the allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to the Enugu governor, Uwakwe Abugu said: “Governor Ugwuanyin does not have any hand in Ohanaeze politics. We have about seven states in Ohanaeze leadership. As we speak six out of these states have endorsed Barr Nwodo. So it has nothing to do with Gov Ugwuanyin is busy with the task of delivering