The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has warned the Indigenous People of Biafra to stop being antagonistic at a time the South-East region is focused on producing the next president of Nigeria.
The Igbo group in a statement by its National Vice-President, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, while interacting with newsmen in Awka, Anambra State earlier, IPOB would not be allowed to be at the forefront at a time like this in the country.
Okeke-Ogene urged all IPOB members to key into Ohanaeze’s plan of producing the next leader of Nigeria instead and stop causing confusion, adding that the Igbo project of producing a president of Nigeria from the South-East geopolitical zone is a serious business.
Naija News understands that IPOB had in the recent vowed not to recognise Obiozor as leader of Ndigbo, describing him as “a Fulani stooge”.
According to the proscribed group: “This is because Obiozor was imposed on the Igbo socio-cultural body by the Fulani cabal running the failed state of Nigeria.
“The Chief of Staff to the President, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari and Miyetti Allah were instrumental to the emergence of Obiozor as Ohaneze National President according to our findings.”
In his reaction, the National VP of Ohanaeze described IPOB’s tantrum as a “distraction and the ranting of children”. He said: “This is not the time for distraction.IPOB is entitled to their opinion, but we won’t allow certain opinions to distract us from our focus. We have a purpose we want to achieve.
“Our mandate is to produce a president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction in 2023. We can’t realise that by excluding the Igbo from the rest of Nigeria.”
In another news, popular Nigerian lawyer, Olusegun Bamgbose, has advised the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to contest for the Presidency in the 2023 presidential election, Naija News reports.