By Our Reporter
A chieftain of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prince Richard Ozobu, has said that holding the election of new officers for the organization is illegal and contrary to the provisions of its constitution.
Ozobu, who was the chairman of the Ohanaeze parallel electoral committee that produced Chief Jackson Omenazu, as President General, on January 6, explained that the tenure of the executive committee that inaugurated the January 10 electoral committee, will on January 9, stressing that no valid election can be held in Ohanaeze, after the midnight of January 9.
He stated that the problem of elections in Ohanaeze Ndigbo started with the former Chief Enwo Igariway and Chief Nnia Nwodo executive committees which he said led to another defective election that produced late Prof. George Obiozor, on January 10,2021.
Ozobu also stated that the report of the committee set up by the South East Governors to remedy the situation which included eminent Igbo leaders like Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, late Prof Joe Irukwu , among others, was not implemented.
He said: “Anybody or committee purporting to hold Ohanaeze election , tomorrow, January 10, is acting on illegality. No valid election in Ohanaeze can be held after the midnight of January 9. The tenure of the executive committee that set up the electoral committee expires by the midnight of January 9.
“A valid election was held January 6 and a new PG and deputy,Chief Jackson Omenazu and Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, respectively , elected. Any election that holds tomorrow, January 10 is illegal, according to the provisions of the constitution of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo has 7 states as enshrined in its constitution. These 7 states share executive positions through a rotational arrangement which is also constitutional.It is the turn of Rivers state to produce the PG. The group claiming to hold election tomorrow, January 10, didn’t want Rivers state to take her turn.
“But we published our election time table and insisted that it was the turn of Rivers state to produce the next PG. Election has been held. It is illegal to say that they are holding any election tomorrow, we had already elected a PG and his deputy. The laws are clear.In line with the Ohanaeze constitution ,it was a delegate election for card carrying members which held in Enugu with representatives from the 7 Igbo speaking states.
“People should stop participating in games when they understand the rules. Most of the people who claim to be seeking positions in the purported election are not registered members of Ohanaeze and have never attended any meeting of the organization.”
On whether the South East Governors and other eminent Igbo leaders were in support of the January 6 election ,Ozobu assured that some eminent Igbo leaders had recognized the January 6 election which produced Omenazu as the new PG.
“They are aware that we are the legal group operating in line with the constitution of Ohanaeze. Most leaders have recognized the January 6 election which produced Chief Jackson Omenazu as the new PG. They know the people who claim to be holding election tomorrow as the unrecognized faction. They also know that their set up is highly defective in the sense that it didn’t comply with due process and the Ohanaeze constitution.”
On the non implementation of the report of the committee which would have settled the election crisis in Ohanaeze, Ozobu attributed the escalation of the crisis to Chief Nnia Nwodo who he said , illegally suspended the former secretary of Ohanaeze,Chief Uche Okwukwu when he lacked powers to do so.
“After one of the meetings of the South East Governors during Igariwey’s tenure, they set up a committee composed of people like Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma and late Prof. Joe Irukwu, and others, to look into the problem of Ohanaeze. The committee submitted their report to the Governors ,stating that Igariwey’s emergence was unconstitutional and recommended another election. But the report was not implemented which led to another illegal election which produced Chief Nnia Nwodo,as PG. If the report was implemented, we would not have gotten to the point where we are today.
“Despite being a legal practitioner,Nwodo suspended the secretary General of Ohanaeze, Chief Uche Okwukwu, when he clearly lacked powers to do so. No executive committee has power to suspend any official without the approval of the general assembly which is the highest decision making body of Ohanaeze,but Nwodo went against wise counsel to act on illegality upon illegality until he handed over to Prof. George Obiozor who died in office. Even when he was illegally made PG, the late Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu knew the problem but didn’t do anything to solve the problem until he also died in office.”
© Vanguard.