Ahead of the exercise to elect to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has advised former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sir Mike Okiro, not to listen to those encouraging him to contest.
Spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, in a statement, insisted that it was the turn of Rivers State and cautioned the elder statesman against dancing to the tunes of those urging him to contest claiming that they only wanted to rubbish his integrity.
“The attention of the noble family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the purported endorsement of Mr. Mike Okiro by a faceless group supposedly called “Ogbako Egbema” for him to contest for the next President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
“It is obvious that some influential individuals in Imo State government is behind this move to rubbish the integrity of Mike Okiro and decimate Ohaneze Ndigbo.
“This faceless group is speaking for the enemies of Ndigbo, whose interest is to disorganise Alaigbo. These people cannot truncate the legitimate turn of Rivers State to produce the next Ohaneze Ndigbo President General.
“At a time when well meaning organisations are actively campaigning for the unification of all territories of ancient Igboland from Igbanke to Isobo, others are hell-bent on reinforcing the stereotypical narrative of our enemies that Igboland is irretrievably balkanised and can never be united under a common political purpose.
“It is imperative that we warn those peddling the falsehood and endorsing Mike Okiro to contest for the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo to desist from disrupting the zoning structure of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
“The retired IGP, Mr. Mike Okiro, should not allow himself to be used to destroy the cohesion of the Igbo race. The contest for the President General slot is reserved for Igbos in River State. Mr. Okiro is from Imo State. He contested against the late Prof. Gorge Obiozor, during the turn of Imo State to produce the President General and lost.
“Anybody or group trying to drag Mike Okiro into contesting against Rivers State Igbos is trying to foment trouble and IPOB will give that person or group back the problem they are clamouring for.
“The time has gone when IPOB allowed politicians to manipulate Ohaneze Ndigbo leadership outcomes. This time, Igbo governors and politicians must allow Ohaneze Ndigbo to operate as a respected socio-cultural organisation, not as errand boys and political wing of the South East Governors Forum.
“Any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the forthcoming election to exclude or deny Igbos in Rivers State their rightful opportunity will be resisted by IPOB and those culpable will be held accountable by the people. The era of allowing Ohaneze Ndigbo to drift and serve as a willing tool for the enemies of Ndigbo to control our political destiny has come to an end,” IPOB warned.
