Incoming President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Federal Capital Territory, FCT Chapter, Nze Ifeanyichukwu Nweze, said yesterday that all the new executives led by him were elected in accordance with the bye-laws of the Igbo socio-cultural group as amended 2019, which has since been declared valid by the court.
This was even as he disclosed plans by his team to acquire the office of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Abuja where various committees would be inaugurated to ensure peace and unity among all Igbo people in the FCT and the entire Northern Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Nweze, said “just as the administration of the erstwhile President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo conducted the election that produced the current President General, in person of Ambassador (Prof.) George Obiozor, the same way the outgoing administration of Odozie Nwodosi conducted the election which produced the incoming executive committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in FCT.”
“We wish to inform the world that any other person or group parading as the executive committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT is fake and illegal, especially the one led by Onwu Oko Arua, who happens to be a legal practitioner that should know the law, but rather chose to fight the authority of the courts, to wit,” he stressed.
Nweze also informed that the High Court of Federal Capital Territory restrained everybody from conducting election of Ohanaeze FCT on November 27, 2020 or any other day pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive motion on notice to determine the status and validity of the bye-laws of the chapter.
He said that the Arua-led group violated the law by conducting election and has since been parading as exco of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT, adding that “the same court, in its final judgment invalidated the conduct of the election, thereby rendering the election and its products null and void.”
The president, who offered journalists with copies of the restraining order, the judgment and the application for committal to correctional center of the said Arua and others in his group for violating court order and judgment in suit No. FCT/HC/CV/2726/2020, also disclosed that Arua and 13 others were expelled from the Ohanaeze Ndigbo for gross misconduct, which they challenged in the High Court of FCT, but dismissed.
“He (Arua) and other affected persons are therefore not even qualified as yet to contest election or hold any post in the Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT,” Nweze declared.
According to him, the Arua group “cannot show anything they have done for Ndigbo, rather they have been milking Ndigbo for their personal gain”, lamenting that the organization has no office in the FCT.
Nweze, however, said his team would soon unveil office space of Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT in Abuja where various committees like the Peace and Reconciliation, Membership, Political Awareness, Contact and Mobilisation, Cultural and Igbo Language Development, Project, Security and Elders would be inaugurated.
While inviting Ndigbo and well-wishers to the 2021 Igbo Day celebration in FCT on September 29 at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, he reaffirmed the commitment of the new exco to the Igbo course and promised to serve and protect their interest at all times.
In his comment, the outgoing president of the chapter, Odozie Nwodosi promised that the executives and leaders of the organization would not relent in pursuing the path of peace and unity among Ndigbo, especially in the FCT.
