Ohanaeze Ndigbo has accused some unnamed politicians and their agents of trying to instigate the north against the Igbo ahead the 2023 general elections.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural group was reacting to a media report alleging the killing of 100 northerners in the South East in the last one week.
Ohanaeze described the story credited to the “Coordinator of the Northern Consensus Forum, Dr. Auwal Abdullahi Aliyu as a lie from the pit of hell.
The northern forum had “directed commodity traders and truck drivers to shun the South East of Nigeria over incessant killings of their members by members of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).”
It also said that they have declared three days warning strike due to the constant killing of the northerners in the South East.
However, National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, in a statement, yesterday, accused the northern group of playing politics with the peace and stability of the country.
Ogbonnia said Aliyu was not among the northern leaders resident in the South East and as such was not in position to speak on the relationship between northerners and people of the South East.
He said the tendentious plot of the purveyor of such a false, mendacious and devilish alarm was to cause crisis, adding that unfortunately, Aliyu had inadvertently reduced the worth of a Nigerian to that of a chicken that could be slaughtered in hundreds within a week.
Ogbonnia acknowledged the relentless efforts of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the clergy, traditional rulers and indeed all the well- meaning Igbo on the adverse consequences of youth restiveness in the region. He alleged that the alarm was not unconnected with the rising profile and acceptability of Peter Obi, presidential flag-bearer of Labour Party (LP) who is an Igbo.
He noted that such false alarm by the northern group was a security threat capable of causing pandemonium across the country.
The Igbo group, therefore, called on security agencies to interrogate the coordinator of the Forum with appropriate punishment meted to him and his cohorts to serve as deterrent to other alarmists.
“…It is, therefore, curious that the first time an Igbo, Mr Peter Obi, is gaining unprecedented authentic national and international endorsements based on his outstanding performance credentials, to the leadership of the country, instead of a moral appeal to justice, equity and reflective mutual reciprocity, some crisis entrepreneurs are sowing the seeds of discord and deep mistrust between the North and the South East. The Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor lays no pretensions to the insecurity in the South East of Nigeria but frowns at any form of mischief that incites the North against the South East.”
