A group, Igbo Women Assembly, IWA, has advised the former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro to withdraw from the race for the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, for peace and equity in Igbo land.
The group said that Rivers State should produce the President of Ohanaeze in line with rotational policy or the position should be returned to Abia State if Igbo speaking people of Rivers State are not ready to produce the President.
These demands were made by the members of IWA in Umuahia on Monday evening during the inauguration of Abia State chapter and United Nations mother tongue committee of IWA.
The National President of IWA, Nneka Chimezie who addressed the press during the event, said that available official records have confirmed that Mike Okiro who was the Inspector General of Police of Nigeria, is from Imo State.
He pointed out that Okiro cannot change his State of origin to Rivers State because of his interest in Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership.
“Mike Okiro is from Imo State. His elder brother is one of the Ezes in Egbeme in Imo State.
“I think he should do the right thing and withdraw from the race”, said Chimezie.
She also called for an end to what she called over militarization of the South East roads and communities, alleging that the situation is causing the youths to flee from the region in large numbers.
The IWA President, who condemned the claims that Igbos don’t sell lands to people from other tribes, said her organization would institute a lawsuit against veteran journalist, Reuben Abati in the next 14 days unless he withdrew the statement credited to him or apologized.
Nneka Chimezie who raised the alarm on the decreasing life span among the Igbo population, advised the people to go for natural foods and avoid junk foods and other practices that could destroy their body systems.
The IWA leader lamented that Igbo language was fast disappearing and the culture was swiftly declining.
She, however, said that her group had established Igbo language schools and embarked on self rediscovery efforts to save the Igbo language and culture.