Tension is brewing in the Ohanaeze Ndigbo over an alleged plot by the President General, Chief Gary Igariwey and the Secretary, Dr. Joe Nworgu to extend their tenure to 2019.
Another issue which had caused divisions in the Ohanaeze family is the insistence by Igariwey and Nworgu to commission a yet to be completed gigantic secretariat which Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha is building for the group.
The plot which is currently being resisted by majority of members of the Ime Obi Ohanaeze as well as the Ohaneze Youth council is threatening to tear the group as Igariwey and Nworgu have developed a plan B if their tenure elongation plot fails to work.
The plan B, it was gathered, is that the President General and the Secretary has began a search for a pliable person who they will impose to protect their interest when if they leave office in January 2019. The incumbent Ohanaeae leadership was elected on 12th January , 2013.
Igariwe and Nworgu have been engaged in a war against the Ohanaeze Youth wing, threatening to ban the group due to their insistence that the President General and Secretary have betrayed Ndigbo.
The duo have also presented a N40 million budget for the commissioning of the secretariat and wants to commission the yet to be completed secretariat, fearing that their tenure elongation plot or their plan B, may fail due to strong opposition by members and the youth wing of the group. The committee to oversee the launching of the yet to be completed secreatriat is headed by Dr. Joe Nworgu.
On Enugu’s turn to produce the next President General of Ohanaeze, Igariwey and Nworgu are alleged to have vowed that his deputy, Sir Onyema who they see as ‘no nonsense’ personality, will never succeed him as President General.
A source further stated that Ime Obi which is the highest decision making body of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is not properly constituted as each of the seven state is required to present at least ten members but Nworgu has continued to employ his friends and associates as members of the Ime Obi.
Said a member of Ime Obi who did not want his name stated,” Igariwey and Joe Nworgu are the problem of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, they see the group as a tool for merchandize. They have been very selfish and have failed to carry members along. Before the 2015 presidential election, Buhari wrote to have audience with leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo under by igariwey, instead of being non partisan, Igariwey put the letter inside the waste paper basket, and when President wrote the second time, he took it to former President Jonathan and collected 5billion Naira from the former President. Since Buhari won, they have refused to liaise with him to see how Ndigbo can benefit from his administration. Is this the type of leader Ndigbo need at this age when we are being marginalized in Nigeria?
“Even the Ime Obi is not properly constituted. Every state is supposed to have a ten member delegation at every meeting, but what Joe Nworgu has done is to fill the Ime Obi with his friends. Even with the money they collect from people, Ohanaeze owes salaries to the few staff working for it. Look at the ongoing secretariat being built by Governor Okorocha, why the haste to commission a secretariat which is yet to be completed? They reduced Ohanaeze to a beggarly organization. This is why they want to extend their tenure or impose a successor to cover up their shameful activities against Ndigbo.”
