Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the top Igbo social-cultural organisation, claims that while it supports the country’s prolonged corporate existence, it opposes all forms of violent protest.
The group made this announcement on Monday during a news conference in Abakaliki as part of celebrations for the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Ebonyi State in Nigeria and the 62nd anniversary of Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule.
However, the organisation underlined that it was opposed to all forms of marginalisation, including socioeconomic, inequality, and poor governance.
They spoke through Dr. Peter Mbam, President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ebonyi chapter.
He asserted that Ohanaeze has a duty to defend Igbo people anywhere in the world as a social and cultural organisation that represents the interests of the Igbo race both at home and in the Diaspora.
He said: “As the name implies, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is responsible for the protection of Ndigbo Worldwide. There’s no part of the world where you will not find an Igbo man or Igbo people.
“In Nigeria, Ohanaeze supports all agitations that support the interest of Ndigbo and any other marginalised group.
“We work with governments at all levels; the federal, state and local governments to ensure that the citizens get what they expect from the leadership of the country.
“We want to make sure that their religious, economic and political interests are secured.
“We are advocates for lawful approach in solving critical national problems; we believe in diplomacy and round table approach and do not support Ndigbo to leave Nigeria.
“We still want to be in Nigeria. We want a restructured Nigeria where social justice, fairness, equity and equality will reign supreme and we want a Nigeria where we will be treated not as second-class citizens.”
Citing of the numerous projects that Gov. Dave Umahi’s administration started and finished that improved people’s lives, the group reaffirmed its solidarity and support for the administration.
The group said, “We have taken time to appraise what our governor is doing in this state, having gone round the three zones of the state. We did that again last week as part of activities to mark the creation of 26 years of Ebonyi.
“We inspected nine gigantic projects and concluded that Umahi has performed beyond imagination and expectations.
“We were not anticipating what we are seeing now; we will provide enabling environment for his administration to succeed and do more.
“We look at the governor’s security architecture and discovered that Ebonyi is the only state where you can sleep with your eyes closed.
“We are appreciative of the governor’s empathy and sympathy for the less privileged and the strive to make life meaningful through the series of economic empowerment he gave to the youths.”
Speaking on the forthcoming 2023 elections, the group said, “We want the election of next year to be the most peaceful. We will go down to the grassroots to deliver our message; you don’t equip the young men to go against your political opponents, we want them to see themselves as contestants, that’s what we are talking about.”
The organisation declared its unwavering support for Umahi’s proposal that power should transfer to the Ebonyi North senatorial zone and claimed that sustaining the state’s power rotation would be in the best interests of each of the three geopolitical zones that make up the state.
“We, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo family in Ebonyi are united. We share the same philosophy and ideology. We believe in the Senatorial zones. We are supporting our governor that power should shift to the Ebonyi North.
” It started with the Ebonyi North in 1999, moved to Ebonyi Central in 2007 and 2015 it got to Ebonyi South, it’s in line with nature with the law of equity that it should go back to the North in 2023,” they said