January 23 2021 | Radio Biafra
A controversial statement credited to the newly elected Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo President-General, Mr. George Obiozor, was not only laughable; but full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Obiozor, who addressed his audience on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, during his presidential inauguration, said that Ndi Igbo should not leave the (enforced) union of the Nigerian state, but embrace what he called a “united, progressive Nigeria”. He also said that “Ndi Igbo are neither at war with Nigeria, nor seeking to be . . ., but are ready to work with a new Nigeria”.
That was a wishful thought that has never worked for the past 45 years of Ohanaeze’s existence in Nigeria.
The statement was fiercely frowned at, in many quarters, by true sons and daughters of Ndi Igbo, whose cries of suppression in the Nigerian State has been ignored for many decades.
More so, to say the least, Obiozor’s statement was wasteful, and a prove that every leadership of Ohanaeze from inception has never been obligated to work for the betterment of Ndi Igbo in Nigeria; but has been serving as a political stooge for the advancement of the course of the Sokoto caliphate, in Igboland.
Recall that Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, a socio-cultural Igbo group, (although not recognized by all Igbo people), was formed in 1975, five years after Nigeria struck a war against the people of Biafra (mostly Igbo); to serve the purpose of addressing the plights and ordeals of Ndi Igbo sequel to the war years. An atrocious and inhumane treatment that has, upon till this day, not been addressed.
Ohanaeze came to limelight in the wake of the war, amid its traumatic effects on Ndi Igbo as a result of the 1966 pogrom – which saw over 30,000 Igbo sons and daughters killed in cold blood, in the northern Nigeria – and the subsequent genocidal war (1967 to 1970) that saw over 4 million Igbo people, annihilated.
However, following the (re)integration of Ndi Igbo to Nigeria, after the war, Igbo people has been treated as second class citizens; and neither the government of Nigeria, nor Ohanaeze, has been able to give us (Igbo) the spirit of inclusiveness in a country that supposedly belong to us all.
Sadly enough, Ohanaeze failed to live up to its expectations; by playing the ostrich, and making itself subservient to the oppressors of their own people.
After many years of Ohanaeze’s incompetence, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – a freedom movement – was birthed to stand and speak for Ndi Igbo and Biafrans at large. IPOB has ever remained unwavering in that regards and has vehemently refused to be compromised unlike Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo.
At this point, being the crux of the matter, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and its new leadership has no moral obligation to speak for, and on-behalf of Ndi Igbo. This is because Ndi Igbo has now gotten a front through which their voices can be heard (louder) in the oppressive Nigerian State.
Source: The Biafra Times
Published by:
Chibuike Nebeokike
For: Radio Biafra Media
