By Uche Amunike
The Igbo Socio-Cultural Organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo has said that Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi defeated Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress at the February 25 general election and that they have enough evidence to prove it.
According to the organization, the OBI-Datti movement symbolizes the formidable revolution that shows the birth of a paradigm shift of the Nigerian economy from a consuming one to a producing one.
In reaction to the viral news reports credited to a certain Ambassador Tony Chiemelu Obizoba, who claimed that Ohaneze Ndigbo stated that ‘Peter Obi presidency on the platform of the Labour Party is not destined to happen in 2023’, they debunked it as false and unfounded.
Obizoba, who claimed to be the Director-General, Implementation and Strategic Planning of Ohaneze Ndigbo in his claims, also said in his statement that the socio-cultural organization applauded ‘the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress’ as the winner and President-elect following the presidential election.’
Speaking, through a press statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the organization, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, he dismissed the comments of Obizoba as false and unfounded, while describing his statements as ‘one of the most reckless, irresponsible and mischievous publications by an uncouth wary transgressor, impostor, charlatan and scoundrel’.
He described Obizoba as a self-styled ambassador as he distanced Ohaneze Ndigbo from any statement that suggested that Peter Obi is not destined to be the president of Nigeria. He further stated that the organization considered ignoring the fake post but decided otherwise because being silent over it might make the unsuspecting public think that the statements were indeed valid.
The statement from Ohaneze Ndigbo further read: ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo is proud to state that Peter Obi is a man whose track record of accomplishments has countervailed the regrettable and despicable tailspin of Nigerian bourgeois cash and carry democracy.’
‘Thus, Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora have, through the Obi phenomenon, demonstrated a loud irrepressible and indelible landmark; an irrevocable corroboration that evil men thrive because good men go to sleep.’
‘Nigerians and indeed the world leaders will continue to celebrate Obi for over one thousand years to come. Peter Obi will be remembered as a man who with a mere force of morals, uprightness, persuasions and goodwill has changed the political narratives of the most populous and backward African country.’
‘One major challenge that has afflicted the Igbo for some decades now is the adulteration of the communal sensibility, the Igbo sense of originality. This is one of the harsh realities of the Nigerian civil war where Nigerian soldiers comprising diverse ethnics including mercenaries from Niger, Chad Republics, etc occupied the Igbo land.’
The Secretary-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, according to the statement, was shocked that Obizoba could be taken seriously by the media, seeing that he was just a meddlesome Interloper. He found it most inconceivable that a true Igbo man would make such demoralizing statements, using the respected name of Ohaneze Ndigbo.’
The statement concluded: ‘We wish to use this opportunity to point out that the social media revolution has inadvertently thrown up an entirely new generation of half-baked, insidious ‘journalists’ who do not place value on the ethics and codes of the profession, chief of which is investigative journalism. Otherwise, there is hardly any Nigerian journalist who cannot distinguish between those who speak for Ohanaeze on one hand and the spivs and charlatans on the other.’
