Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo was reported in the media on Monday, February 17, 2014 to have warned Governor Rochas Okorocha and a renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze against speaking for Ndi-Igbo, especially on the planned National Conference.
The President of Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo in Anambra state, Elder Chris Eluemunoh was reported to have issued the warning. He had also said in the report that the Imo Governor would never be Igbo leader.
In all these, our reaction is very simple. At the level Owelle Rochas Okorocha has got in life his being governor notwithstanding, he has all it takes to talk on behalf of Ndi-Igbo. And luckily enough he has the needed courage to talk for a people like Ndi-Igbo.
We won’t hold the brief of Prof. Nwabueze, but suffice it to say that for somebody to wake up one morning to say that a man like Prof. Nwabueze is not qualified to speak for Ndi-Igbo, should call for concern, especially on a national issue like the forthcoming conference that requires the views of well informed people like Nwabueze and Okorocha.
If Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo wanted to be the only voice to speak for Ndi-Igbo, it would have, avoided some political actions and utterances credited to it in recent time including the unpopular ban on Ndi-Igbo not to run for the office of president in 2015.
Respect or trust is always earned. Whether a group or individual, the extent you are respected or trusted depends on the extent you have gone to represent the popular views or interest of the people you represent. Governor Okorocha has demonstrated the kind of courage a leader of a people should exhibit.
Recall that Ndi-igbo never met anywhere and at anytime to elect the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Sam Mbakwe, and Ikemba Odumegbu Ojukwu respectively their leader at any given time, but they emerged naturally, and through their actions and utterances, Ndi-Igbo began to follow them and began to respect their views. The trend will continue.
And if Okorocha becomes the beneficiary of that trend these days, there is nothing anybody can do about it. Even those before him never had it one hundred percent among the Igbo populace. God chooses leaders for a people. If God says Okorocha should lead Ndi-Igbo now, nobody or group should put asunder.
Governor Okorocha has great respect for Ohaneze and its leadership, and what is expected of the body is to tap from the courage, doggedness, wisdom, and hard work of Governor Okorocha to the advantage of the organization and not to begin to see the Imo governor as a rival. Their speeches and actions should be complimentary.
The Imo Governor would continue to honour Ohaneze and its leadership, but for anybody to claim that a man of his level, even without being a governor is not qualified to speak for Ndi-Igbo is indefensible. And we take exception to that.
2 Responses to "PRESS RELEASE REF:- Ohaneze warns Okorocha"
Okorocha, unless he radically changes steps now cannot speak for his Ideator for now, nonetheless for the Igbo nation.
Okorocha is using uncompleted projects in his area of ancestry as baits for support in the forthcoming elections.
For his plan, it is we have no other choice than support him in future, else the projects remain uncompleted. This is a very dangerous trend. Okorocha hurriedly completes projects in Owerri and leave his projects in his place of ancestry choke up the people and erode any support the people had for him. He hardly listens to the peoples cries. Let Okorocha complete the projects he started in his area of ancestry now.