…Calls For Immediate Arrest, Prosecution of Culprits
From Everest Ezihe, Owerri
Piqued by devastating destruction of goods and properties valued several billions of Naira as allegedly occasioned by recent setting of Akere-Lagos Spare Parts Market predominantly dominated by Igbo traders, Dr. Chiedozie Ogbonnia, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has vehemently condemned the criminal act and called on the Lagos State Government and security agencies to immediately arrest the culprits and prosecute them without further delay.
Ogbonnia stated this in a press statement he endorsed on behalf of the Apex sociocultural organization and made available to news men in Owerri including The Authority.
He revealed that a 65 year old security man was shot dead before the inferno and the incidence is in consonance with the various threats openly issued by some Yoruba youths and elders before the general elections, that a vote against the APC will incur wraths.
The spokesman lamented that while the several eminent conscientious people amongst the Yorubas were lending noble hands for a better Nigeria some alleged miscreants and hoodlums were busy destroying the invaluable age-long cordial relationships between the Ibos and the Yoruba ethnic nationality.
According to him, “it is a common knowledge that the voting on February 25, 2023 was very blind to ethnicity. What the oppressed and the dispossessed masses expressed was a desire to create a new Nigeria through Mr. Peter Obi.
It goes without saying that it requires an exceptional audacious and capacious un-Nigerian to pull Nigeria out of the woods. Anyone who has watched Peter Obi closely since 40 years ago will discern that Obi is specially sent from heaven to redeem Nigeria from its down-ward spiral” he insisted.
Ogbonnia observed that the presidential candidate of the APC in the last election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu also enjoyed a good Igbo supporters in Lagos. Why all these?
The Ohanaeze chieftain maintained that the unjust persecutions of Ndigbo will not likely to stop the spirit of Igbo entrepreneurship, cosmopolitanism and resilience insisting that Ndigbo are found everywhere to be hardworking.
They strive to cooperate with and add vital infrastructural values to the host community. This is the ideal, worthy of emulation.
It must also be pointed out that before the general election, various ethnic cultural groups such as the Afenifere, an umbrella socio cultural organisation for the Yoruba; the PANDEF, the Middle Belt, Arewa groups, etc were in the forefront of the Obi-Datti movement and thousands of Yoruba youths were deeply committed to the cause.
He canvassed that based on the foregoing, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is restrained from viewing the barbaric attack on Igbo traders with an ethnic stereotype; rather all men of goodwill are enjoined to rise in one voice to condemn what he described as “primitive and primordial display of vile and hate against the Igbo”.
The Publicity Secretary further recalled that before the election,the Baale (local chief) of Igbara community, in Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos State had made an incendiary speech wherein he stated that “only residents who have their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and are ready to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be allowed to do business with us in this community”.
Ogbonnia recalled that Baale Jakande made the remarks while addressing his cabinet members on Monday, January 30, 2023.
The traditional ruler he named further threatened: “We are ready to fight; yes, I am not hiding it; I have narrated everything to you. In Nigeria, there is Lagos; in Lagos, there is Eti-Osa; within Eti-Osa, we have Igbara community and by the grace of God in Igbara today, we can take our decision.
He continued: “You want to vote for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or Labour Party (LP)? Not here…among others.”
We also recall that in April 2015, the Oba of Lagos, His Majesty Rilwan Akiolu had threatened the Igbo living in Lagos that “anyone that fails to vote for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would perish in the Lagoon….and more.
These subversive and inflammable vocal statements by the elites who should lead the way are at variance with the principles of cohesion, peace, security and sustainable national development.
Adding his voice,the Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR calls on President Muhammadu Buhari, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, security agencies and indeed the lovers of democracy to rise in defence of democracy in Nigeria.
Emuchay also call for the interference of the International communities at this point arguing that ignored injustice somewhere will ultimately have reverberations elsewhere and everywhere.
