*Gives him Seven days to withdraw his statement,
The Ohanaeze Youth council, an umbrella of the Youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide has warned the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to steer clear from Chief Nnia Nwodo or face the dire consequences, should anything happen to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The group, which was reacting to a threat issued by the leader of IPOB, during his June 28 broadcast on Radio Biafra, where he urged his members to stone Chief Nwodo on sight for failing to protect the zone against rampaging Fulani herdsmen in the region, warned Kanu against instigating internal crisis in Igbo land.
Irked by the threat, the group organized a solidarity march across some streets in Enugu metropolis on Tuesday afternoon, July 7,to kick against the IPOB leader order and their total support to Chief Nnia Nwodo,leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Their solidarity march which lasted till evening ended at the Ohanaeze national secretariat,located at No 7 Park avenue, GRA, where the Youths were received by the President of Ohanaeze, Enugu state chapter, Chief Alex Ogbonnia.
The Ohanaeze Youth leader, Mazi Wenceslaus Ogbonnia, who spoke on behalf of others said they embarked on the solidarity march to demonstrate that the IPOB leader is on his own and to tell the world that Igbo Youths are firmly in support of various steps Ohanaeze Ndigbo which is the parent body of all Igbo socio cultural associations globally, have taken so in ensuring unity of Igbo people world over and cementing peaceful relationship with their neighbours, host communities and other ethnic tribes,most especially in Nigeria.
The Ohanaeze Youths described the utterances of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu against the President General,Ohanaeze Ndigbo,Chief Nnia Nwodo,as very unbecoming and his recent outburst urging Igbo Youths to stone him[Nwodo] to death,as the highest point of insult on Chief Nwodo, Igbo Youths and the entire Igbo race. He said the IPOB leader must fulfill their task of withdrawing the death threat sentence and apologies within seven days, He stressed that the failure of IPOB leader to fulfill the task within the seven days ultimatum will attract him the wrath of the Igbo Youths.
His words, “We read Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s death threat in which he urged Igbo Youths to stone Chief Nnia Nwodo,the Ohanaeze President General, wherever they see him on the social media. We followed it up and found out that it has been an issue of public discussion across Igbo land. Here today, the Igbo Youths are saying no to Nnamdi Kanu;s proclamation. We have respect for our elders. We have respect for Chief Nnia Nwodo. He have achieved much for the Igbo nation, in his capacity as the current President General,Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide”.
“On behalf of the Igbo Youths most of whom are being represented by their leaders today,We are giving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu seven days to withdraw his death threat to Chief Nnia Nwodo. We are task him to tender an apology to Chief Nwodo,to our own union of Ohanaeze Youth council and the entire Igbo nation. Failure to do so, will provoke more wrath of Igbo Youths on him. We would not mention some of our actions. But all we can tell you is that the Igbo Youths know how to get Nnamdi Kanu, when they want’.
The group earlier mentioned some of the achievements of Chief Nnia Nwodo in his capacity as President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to include ‘ A handshake across the Niger’ through which Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as parent body of all Igbo socio cultural organizations have tried to cement cordial relationships with other ethnic tribes in Nigeria.
They also commended Chief Nnia Nwodo led Ohanaeze Ndigbo for adopting and canvassing for ‘Restructuring’ as a solution in solving the nation’s socio political and economic problems. They said Restructuring is similar to ‘Self determination’ ideology view of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the pursuit of an independent state of Biafra.
The Ohanaeze Youths said they are also at home with Chief Nnia Nwodo’s approach in tackling the various socio political problems confronting the Igbo race,stating they cannot no longer be at ease with the IPOB leader strategy of intimidating and threatening Igbo leaders,to gain cheap popularity,whereas he achieved nothing for the Igbo race.
Chief Nnia Nwodo who eventually drove into the Ohanaeze secretariat while responding to the speech of Ohanaeze Youths,said he deliberately refused to make any categorical statement on the death threat to his life advocated by the IPOB leader, amidst the thousands of calls and text messages he has received in the past one week,when the story on stoning him to death went viral on social media platforms. Nwodo disclosed that there were other threats and propaganda to malign him but as a father of the Igbo nation,he simply have refused to join issues with his sons and still sticks to his inaugural statement to defend the cause of all Igbo pressure groups with genuine cause,when it matters. He thanked the Ohanaeze Youths for their peaceful solidarity march.
