The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), a frontline Igbo think tank, has warned against the imposition of former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mike Okiro, as the President General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The warning was coming ahead of the forthcoming national elections of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
National President of ADF and former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, in a statement, said the ADF is not against the emergence of any candidate as the President-General of the organisation, but it must be through a clean and accepted process.
He said: “Due process must be followed to ensure that Ndi Igbo worldwide bought into the emerging leadership, just as it opposed the perspective that Chief Okiro who joined the police as a Rivers State man when his brother was Eze in Imo State, may be very serious with Igbo affairs.
“ADF admonishes Rivers State Ohaneze Ndigbo to ensure that due process is followed by complying with the Ohaneze Constitution, which stipulate that they shortlist three candidates to be voted for, and publish same before the election.
“Ohaneze Rivers State should ensure that they put their house in order to claim what is rightfully theirs. We challenge all good spirited Ndi Igbo in Rivers State such as Ndi Eze, Politicians and technocrats, among others, to stand up to be counted in this period that the position of President-General is deemed to be theirs. This, they must do by ensuring that they present and support candidate who is not ashamed of Igboness, and are administratively exposed to take Ohaneze to international heights.
“We, however, warn that if Igbo people in Rivers State by any act of commission or omission, allow apparent chameleonic characters who are from Rivers State in the day, and from other States in the night, to be manipulatively imposed on them, they should not blame other Igbo people.”
Regarding the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, ADF described as both condemnable and unacceptable a situation where people who committed heinous crimes were set free while a freedom fighter was kept inside the dungeon in perpetuity.
It viewed as discriminatory, the recent order by the House of Representatives for the release of the detained leader of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore whereas the IPOB leader remains in detention for years.
ADF said the situation where there are different rules for different ethnic groups in the country is unacceptable, and also condemned the arrest, arraignment and detention of human rights activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi, warning that the situation that the security agencies and judicial officers make themselves available to be used by powerful persons to settle scores with their enemies, is inimical to the democracy.