As the nation marches towards
the 2015 general elections, the
apex Igbo social-cultural group,
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has said
that Igbo presidency is not on
its agenda. President General of the
organisation, Chief Gary Nnachi
Enwo-Igariwey, told Daily Sun
in Abuja after a meeting with
leaders of Igbo organisations
in the 19 northern states and Abuja, that the group was not
looking at Igbo presidency in
2015. He was, however, quick to add
that the decision of the group
would be made known at the
appropriate time, even as he
stressed that there was no
time the group said it had not pushed the idea of an Igbo
man being president in 2015. “We are not looking at Igbo
presidency in 2015. We have
not said so. Our decisions
would be made known at the
appropriate time. There was no
time we said we haven’t pushed the idea of an Igbo
man being president in 2015,”
Enwo-Igariwey said. The Ohanaeze president urged
all Igbo to be registered for
voting in their places of
residence. He said this was a civic
responsibility, adding that by
doing so, Igbo all over the na­
tion, would be able to contrib­
ute to decisions in their areas
of residence. The Ohanaeze leader urged
President Goodluck Jonathan to
fast track decisions on the
recommendations of the just
concluded national conference,
saying that the resolutions were what the people wanted
and it would serve nobody’s
interest to sit on them. On the recent allegation by an
Australian hostage and crisis
negotiator, Stephen Davis, that
Lieutenant General Azubuike
Ihejirika, was among sponsors
of Boko Haram, the Ohanaeze president said the group saw
the reasons given as
unrealistic. “Why would Ihejirika sponsor
people, who said they want to
Islamise the country? Why will
he sponsor people who are
killing people, including his
own people? “Why was he also accused of
being brutal on the insurgents
and that they were going to
report him to the International
Court of Justice? “How can the same people who
made the same allegations
also accuse him of sponsoring
the same people they accused
him of killing? “We are satisfied with Ihe­
jirika’s service to the nation
and we commend him. And we
are asking those who are
fanning these rumours to de­
sist in the interest of this coun­ try,” Enwo-Igariwey said. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo harped
on the need for Nigerians to
close ranks and work with one
voice, adding, “this has become
extremely important because
of the security situation in certain parts of the country,
especially the North East. Also,
it commended the sacrifices by
security forces in their fight
against insurgence, adding,
“Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost
their lives in the defence of our
country.” The communiqué read in part:
“We condemn in strong terms,
the attempt to smear the
person of former Chief of Army
Staff, Lt. Gen. Ihejirika. The
logic behind this is strange and unacceptable. We are satisfied
with the explanation of the
State Security Service and
commend his meritorious
service to the nation. We urge
all those behind this to stop forthwith. “We also commend govern­
ment’s efforts in the control of
the Ebola Virus Disease. We
are happy with the high pro­
fessional approach of the Min­
ister of Health and his team. “We are dissatisfied with the
reasons advanced by the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) chairman
for the release of the
imbalanced new polling units. It is insensitive and defies log­
ic. We believe that only after
voter registration updates can
new polling units be allocated
according to new facts. We
therefore reject it.”
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=81748

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