Damian Okeke-Ogene, the vice-president of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, says it has not yet been decided that Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu is the group’s president-general, contrary to media reports.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Iwuanyanwu, a Nigerian politician and entrepreneur, emerged as Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s president-general after being endorsed and presented to Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State by a delegation of the Imo Elders Council on 19 April.
His emergence followed the death of the president-general of the Igbo group, George Obiozor, which was announced in December.
But speaking on the development on Tuesday, Mr Okeke-Ogene said a decision had not yet been taken on Mr Iwuanyanwu, Vanguard newspaper reported.
The Ohanaeze vice-president said Imeobi —- the highest decision-making organ of the Ohanaeze —- would meet on 30 April, to take “far-reaching decisions” on the new leadership of the group.
He said Mr Iwuanyanwu‘s reported emergence as Ohanaeze president-general does not arise “because it is the Imeobi that will decide” on the issue.
“For now, people can speculate on anything but Ohanaeze has a constitution and there are high expectations that things will work out well after the Imeobi meeting on Sunday,” he said.
Knocks over Ohanaeze new leadership
President-generals of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo usually emerge through an election conducted by the general assembly of the apex Igbo group.
Mr Iwuanyanwu may become the first president-general of the group to emerge without an election.
Since Mr Iwuanyanwu was pronounced as the new president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, some Igbo leaders have continued to fault his emergence.
The critics believe that it was wrong for the Imo Elders Council to have presented Mr Iwuanyanwu as the new Ohanaeze president-general to Mr Uzodinma without being ratified at the Imeobi Ohanaeze meeting.
But reacting, Alex Ogbonnia, the spokesperson of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, told Leadership newspaper, on Tuesday, that the group adopted “doctrine of necessity” in appointing the new president-general.
Mr Ogbonnia said it is only when the majority of Imeobi members fail to endorse Mr Iwuanyanwu on Sunday that an election will be conducted to elect a new president-general.
“Those who are kicking against (Iwuanyanwu’s emergence) have not met anywhere to talk about alternatives. We need peace in Igboland,” he said.
Zoning principle in Ohanaeze
The position of president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo rotates among seven Igbo-speaking states in south-east and south-south Nigeria, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.
The South-east has five states namely, Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Abia and Imo while the south-south region has two states which are Rivers and Delta States.
Each state is to produce the president-general of Ohanaeze who would serve for a single tenure of four years, according to an existing zoning arrangement of the Igbo group.
A state which does not complete its tenure as a result of the death or resignation of the incumbent president-general is permitted to nominate another to complete such tenure subject to ratification by the Imeobi Ohanaeze.
Supporters of Mr Iwuanyanwu’s emergence argue that it is “prerogative right of Imo State” to nominate a new president-general of the group to complete the remaining two years of Mr Obiozor’s four years tenure.
Mr Iwuanyanwu hails from Atta, a community in the Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State.
The immediate past president-general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr Obiozor, hailed from Awo-Omamma in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.
He was the 10th president-general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
