EZUGWU OBINNA

Pan Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the South East All Progressives Congress, APC, have disagreed over the appointments of President Muhammadu Buhari, which the former believe is lopsided.

The Ndigbo Cultural Society of Nigeria (NCSN) has downplayed recent attacks on a chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Chris Eluemunoh as insignificant and not worth any attention since it is between brothers.

The President of the group, Chief Udo Udeogaranya who made this assertion in a chat with Hallmark explained that it was not an issue worth talking about.

It would be recalled that the South East chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC,hadin what has become relentless efforts to shield President Muhammadu Buhari from any attackand perhaps win the respect of the President and other party leaders, cautioned Eluemunoh to stop setting agenda for Buhari.

The warning was contained in a statement issued by the publicity secretary of APC in Anambra, Mr. Okelo Madukaife in Awka on Wednesday.

“Buhari does not need such reminder from anybody to do the right things for the people of the area. Buhari and Ndigbo do not need a selfish call from a hate campaigner working to confront Ndigbo with the Federal Government,” the statement read.

“They can do without those trying to drive a wedge for themselves in the guise of Ohanaeze activists. It’s the dream of Buhari government and all visionary persons in the South East, including every member of APC in the geopolitical zone, to see the completion of the second River Niger Bridge.

“It is this project that many try to isolate and hype as second Niger Bridge and position it as a signature project for Ndigbo.’’

The party went on to accuse the Ohanaeze chieftain of taking advantage of Ndigbo.“The exploitation cuts across government but got to a height under the Goodluck Jonathan administration. “We, therefore, remind Eluemunoh whosepartisanship has never been hidden, that Buhari does not need any reminders to do the needful on the completion of the bridge,” it concluded.

It would also be recalled that the South East APC had also following the appointment of Dr Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director of NNPC as well as the delineation of Enugu International Airport as part of international airports to be upgraded by the Federal Government, quickly rose to state that they were enough prove that Buhari does not hate the Igbo as the same Ohaneze had insinuated.

In a statement signed by the party’s spokesman in the zone, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, APC insisted that Kachikwu’s appointment had vindicated its belief that the President would not marginalise the Igbo.

“The appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and Engr. Dennis Ajulu as Group Managing Director, and Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production of the NNPC, respectively, and enlistment of Enugu Airport among those to be upgraded, are clear indication and demonstration that Mr. President bears no grudge against Ndigbo for not voting for him.

“South-East zone of the All Progressives Congress salutes President Muhammadu Buhari for vindicating its position that every region of the country under his watch would receive equal and fair treatment,” the party said.

Meanwhile, the zone’s chapter of the APC had been making relentless efforts to win the respect and acceptance of the party’s leaders from other zones from the background of the belief that the Igbo were not part of the success. Few weeks ago, on July 26th, the South East caucus of the party in an apparent bid to announce its presence to their South West counterparts and by implication establish goodwill between the two groups, organized a reception in honour of Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha at the New Arts Theatre.

The organizer of the event Mr. Alfred Ononugbo, who is the Imo State Liaison Officer in Lagos, had noted that the event was to among other things, interact with APC leaders in the South West and pledge absolute loyalty to the party.

“We as Ndigbo have deemed it necessary to use this opportunity to celebrate our leaders and those we look up to politically. We are celebrating not just these leaders but ourselves. When we embraced APC, our conviction was that our decision at that time would ensure that the Igbo are accommodated in the national equation,” Onobugbo said.

“Our leaders have shown in no small way that they believed in this course. Our victory, particularly in the East despite the challenges has proven that the decision of our leaders to embrace the APC at the time they did was well thought out.”

“So we decided to, if nothing else celebrate our victory and use it to interact with our leaders in the South West whose sacrifices and commitment ensured that the APC today became the ruling party.”

Interestingly however, the South West leaders of the APC were not, as it turned out, interested in interaction. While individuals like the country’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; APC national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode as well as his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun were all expected at the event, none of them showed in person. Only Amosun was at the same time able to send the deputy governor.

In the end, it was one failed attempt. It was perhaps in view of this that Prof. Pat Utomi remarked during his speech at the event that there was trouble and called on Okorocha to provide the much needed leadership to Ndigbo.

The governor explained that he and other governors of the South East had seen a reason to work together.

“The good news today is that I am working with my brothers, the governors of Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra states. We are working together for the first time in the history of Igbo politics, devoid of party affiliations. We have seen a reason to work together,” Okorocha said.

“I want to announce to you that we are planning to build the first economic hub in the South East. We are commercial people; we are a people who stay under the sun and in the rain day and night. We are a people who have refused to beg for food in this nation. Mostly misunderstood but you can’t do without us.”

These attempts have also been expressed in the way the party’s members relentlessly defend Buhari from any attack from the South East, especially as it concerns the president’s marginalization of the zone in federal appointments.