BY FRANCIS IGATA
ENUGU – The Chairman, United Progressives Party,UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie, yesterday, during the party’s stakeholders meeting in Enugu, lashed out to the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, describing them as ‘betrayal to the Igbo people’.
This is even as the President General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Enwo Igariwey was recently quoted in some national dailies(not this newspaper), as saying,”that Ohaneze Ndigbo is not interested in the participation of Ndigbo to produce the President of Nigeria in the 2015 Presidential election”.
According to the UPP National Chairman,”It is heart-rending, unkindest thing I have ever heard in my 38 years of active involvement in Igbo rights crusade. No Igbo leader occupying the exalted office of President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has gone this far in betraying the Igbo people.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo was designed as a non-partisan socio-cultural pan-Igbo organization, for propagation, promotion and preservation of Igbo cultural heritage, education,economic and welfare of Igbo People in Nigeria and the diaspora.
“In 2012, UPP through its National Executive Committee,NEC, during its inaugural meeting in November, zoned its Presidential slot for the 2015 Presidential election to the south-east geopolitical zone. This has positioned our party very well for the impending epic encounter come 2015.
“The least that is expected of the leadership of Ohanaeze at this time is to appreciate and commend the UPP for giving the Igbo people of Nigeria a voice to be heard and a place to stand in the contest for the highest office of the land. The statement from Ohanaeze Ndigbo is reckless and a grievous act of ingratitude to UPP which shows betrayal,sabotage to the collective aspiration of Igbo people.
“Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum,ACF, will never be caught undermining the collective aspiration of their people. We demand that Ohanaeze General Assembly to disown that statement credited to its President General and reassert their commitment to the well-being and welfare of the Igbo race in line with the vision of the founding father of Ohanaeze.”
