IGBO ELDERS RISK JAIL TERM

By Iduma Ndu

The last have not been heard of the leadership crisis rocking the FCT branch of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as some elders led by the former Chairman of Police Service Commission Chief Simeon Okeke are threatening to go on with the purported elections of the body slated for Friday 27th November, 2020 in defiance of an order of an FCT High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Agbaza stopping same.
It should be recalled that Chief John Nnia Nwodo, the President – General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo constituted a Caretataker cum Election Committee chaired by the Octogenarian property manager to manage the affairs of the body, a move which a great percentage of the Igbo in the FCT rejected stating that the Committee is politically tilted with acolytes of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, and that the one year and six months given to the Odozi Nwodozi-led Executive Committee by the General Assembly in August 2019 is yet to expire.
With the development, coupled with the inclusion of former Anambra state governor Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife and the suspended Eze Igbo of Abuja Chief Nwosu Ibeh, interested individuals within the organisation approached the courts for an interpretation of the constitution of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the local Byelaws of the FCT branch on the constitutionality of the Okeke led committee.
In an an interview with newsmen Chief John Ogbu, one of the litigants, in the matter stated that “Nwodo should first let us know the report of the Okeke-led Reconciliation Committee which he constituted in September 2018 before swimming in the murky waters. His current action is a recipe for total breakdown of Igbo unity in the FCT if not checked on time”
Attempts to extract statement from the incumbent President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT chapter, Odozi Nwodozi met a brickwall as he insisted it will be setting the horse before the cart as the case is before a court of competent jurisdiction.
Kokorookoonews