*Ndigbo don’t need CAC registration – FCT Chapter President
By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has withdrawn the certificate of registration issued to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly. The commission said the conditions for the issuance of the certificate have not been fully fulfilled.
In a statement made available on Monday, CAC advised the trustees of the association to return the certificate to the commission. “This is to inform the general public that the certificate of registration No. IT 144918 issued inadvertently to the Trustees of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly, has been withdrawn by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“The Trustees of the association have been advised to return the said certificate to the commission as the same has been canceled. The conditions for the issuance of the certificate have not been fully fulfilled,” it said.
Reacting to the new development, The President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, FCT Chapter, Odozi Nwodozi, who is also a lawyer applauded the withdrawal of the certificate by CAC, saying that the embattled group are a bunch of desperadoes who want to sell their birth right over a pot of porridge.
He said, “In the first instance Ohaneze Ndigbo is not supposed to be registered by the CAC. Every Igbo person is by birth a member. If you register it, it means that any day the government can wake up and say that they have disbanded Ohaneze and withdraw their certificate, then what will you do, you will become a Yoruba or Hausa person?
“So this group are a group of desperadoes, being push by some desperate persons within the corridors of power. These people pushing them are evil elements, they are desperate and in their desperation they want to destroy the homogeneous nature of the Igbo nation for their selfish reasons”.
But when reminded that those who filled the application at the CAC are Igbo’s including a traditional ruler he responded.
“Have you heard any of those names in the Ohaneze structure? They are a group of no do goods, you better go back and look at the background of the persons you are talking about. That traditional ruler has a questionable background, you should look at it. ‘Igbo’s have the people they refer to as leaders of Ndigbo’ he added in Igbo language.
“Igbo people already know who the Ohaneze leadership is. The leader of Ohaneze is John Nnia Nwodo whose tenure will come to an end in January 2021 and a new leadership will emerge. Any other thing short of that is criminal, it is diversionary and it is counter productive” Nwodozi stated.
A curious Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly was reportedly registered with the CAC and purportedly took over the leadership of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation.
One Nkeli Nzekwe, who claims to be the traditional ruler of Igbariam in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Sunday, reportedly inaugurated the new group in his palace with himself as its Board of Trustees chairman.
He said the new order was that the Igbo apex socio-cultural group had become a legal personality that could sue and be sued and no longer “a self-serving platform”.
Nzekwe said henceforth the new leadership under him, would pilot the affairs of the Igbo globally to the exclusion of anybody on the saddle before the incorporation of the group.
“Today, I welcome the newly inaugurated members of the National Executive Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide led by Basil Onyeachonam. As the Chairman Board of Trustees of the organization, I call on Ndigbo all over the world to join hands together and make Ohanaeze Ndigbo great again.
“I’m one of the founding members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 1976. After the Nigerian civil war, I and some Igbo patriots came together to discuss the way forward for Ndigbo with the good intention to unite Ndigbo under a common umbrella body. This initiative was much welcomed by our people, considering the maximum displacement of Ndigbo during the war and its aftermath. Our principal aim then was specifically to unite Ndigbo and speak with one voice.
“It was unfortunate that the organisation later lost its principal focus and degenerated to a political tool in the hands of some greedy politicians, which created room to the formation of several Igbo organisations, due to lack of confidence in the affairs of Ohanaeze.
“On the 25th of November 2019, some notable Igbo stakeholders visited my palace to discuss the way forward on how to restructure Ohanaeze Ndigbo and give it a corporate legal status instead of merely existing as a pressure group and a political tool in the hands of few individuals,” he said.
Nzekwe said throughout the 44 years of the existence of the Igbo Apex group, it was not registered at the CAC nor recognised by notable International bodies as a corporate personality. ”I am glad to announce to the general public today, Sunday, that Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly is now registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission with the RC NO: 144918, under the present leadership of Barrister Basil Onyeachonam as the President General.
“The organisation today is recognized by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” Nzekwe stated.
