- Threatens to come down hard on any of its affiliates that adopts another candidate
Forty-hours to the all-important February 23 Presidential election, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, have thrown its full weight behind the Obi/Datti, Labour Party’s Presidential candidate.
The global assembly of all Ndigbos also threatens to come down hard against any of its officials or affiliates who openly adopts any other candidate in the forthcoming presidential poll.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo people, said it wholeheartedly endorsed Obi, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Sunrise reports that the Organisation, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Alex Ogbonnia, was angry at the endorsement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, by the women wing of Ohanaeze.
According to him, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, presided over by the Secretary-General, Amb. Okey Emuchay, on Feb. 17, 2023, reaffirmed its irrevocable support for Mr Peter Obi.
He said the stand resonates with the right-thinking and patriotic Nigerians and indeed the global community that Peter Obi stands out as the “most suitable, competent, visionary, inspiring and energetic presidential candidate for the forthcoming general election”.
He added that Emuchay expressed deep shock that while the Afenifere, Pan-Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF) Middle Belt, the Muslim Clerics had united behind the Obi/Datti ticket, the Ohanaeze Women Wing would embark on a mission completely at variance with the interest and position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Ogbonnia said: “The National Executive Committee (NEC) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, presided over by our Secretary-General, Amb. Okey Emuchay sat at the National Secretariat, No 7 Park Avenue, GRA, Enugu on Friday, February 17, 2023, and reaffirmed its irrevocable support for Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
“Obi is not only an exceptional convergence of history, equity and public consciousness, he is also a moral edifice, purveyor of excellence, a quintessential public administrator and the embodiment of the new Nigeria that all Nigerians crave.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo vehemently dissociates itself from such an unwarranted, unconscionable and subversive endorsement of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) by its women wing.”
He, however, warned that Ohanaeze Ndigbo would not condone acts of insubordination and sabotage from any of its officers and affiliates.
He expressed profound gratitude to the youths, courageous elder statesmen, market women, the clergy, clerics, artisans, Nigerian students all over the country and the international community for their invaluable support to Mr Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed.
He urged Nigerians to ignore all forms of distractions and troops out en-masse on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, to discharge their civic duties in favour of Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed of the LP as the only vessel to achieve a better Nigeria.