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| Your speech has unwittingly given those who do not wish Ndigbo well the wrong impression - ADF cuations Nnia Nwodo |
The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) write you this letter with particular reference to the much publicized address which you delivered on the floor of the Anambra State House of Assembly on June 29th, 2017 on the subject of the declaration credited to the IPOB against the forthcoming election in Anambra State.
LETTER TO CHIEF NNIA NWODO
President-General of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo
(This
letter is being released as a matter of major public interest. Besides, ADF
does not want anyone to misunderstand the contents of the letter)
Dear President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!
The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) write
you this letter with particular reference to the much publicized address which
you delivered on the floor of the Anambra State House of Assembly on June 29th,
2017 on the subject of the declaration credited to the IPOB against the
forthcoming election in Anambra State.
We refrained from sending you this letter immediately
on the heels of your speech which many considered very alarming so that no-one
will misunderstand the intentions of ADF in commenting negatively over the manner, timing and venue of your speech -
That speech has unwittingly given those who
do not wish Ndigbo well the wrong impression that Ndigbo are at war with each
other. Indeed, at yet another critical moment in our history, our motto and
philosophy should be United We Stand, Divided We Fall! Internal Unity should be the inevitable
survival insurance of Ndigbo now more than ever before. .
Dear President-General, something is
basically RIGHT with that speech. BUT within the context of Igbo experiences in
Nigeria and the current explosive situation when the lives of Ndigbo are under
serious threat, we need to point out a few things that are fundamentally WRONG
with your recent speech.
First, we in Alaigbo Development Foundation
(ADF) have serious reservations pertaining to any call against holding
elections in Anambra State. When the news about the alleged call by some
patriotic youths of Alaigbo filtered to us, we immediately saw the danger in
it, as it was self-defeating. We decided that the best approach was to find a
way to dialogue with the group(s) involved.
While the Alaigbo Development Foundation is
on the same page with the Ohanaeze President-General over not supporting the
call to boycott the Anambra elections, we do not support your approach in going
to the Anambra House of Assembly to make what looks like a declaration of war
against IPOB. This action is greatly at odds with the finesse usually
associated with Omenala Ndigbo when handling s/uch potentially explosive
situation.
We wish the President-General had held
prior consultations with Ime Obi Ohanaeze before his public statement. If he
had done so, the elders in Ime Obi Ohanaeze, would have definitely advised
against the call for elections boycott. What is more and that is the critical
point ADF is making, those leaders would have advised on the best way to handle
such an explosive situation. They definitely would have advised against
orchestrating the type of public declaration made by the President-General of
Ohanaeze; a statement which those who do not wish Ndigbo well will celebrate as
evidence of a major crack in the internal solidarity of Ndigbo.
Sir, ADF does not believe that Nnamdi Kanu
and the IPOB are impervious to counter-reason. In fact, many Igbos believe that
they mean well for Ndigbo, and that does not suggest in any way, that they are
right all the time.
After his release from the prison!
Nnamdi Kanu was in detention for more than a
year and half. He was detained not because he was an armed robber. He was not a
kidnapper, he did not loot state treasury, he did not take anybody’s wife or
daughter; he was not leading a band of mindless butchers and rapists. He
carried his campaign for freedom on the altar of non-violence. He was simply a
prisoner of conscience.
It was in the light of the above
considerations that ADF sent a delegation to visit him and his colleagues at
Kuje prison. The Report the delegation brought to the organization was the
story of a young-man caught up in his own Golgotha. As soon as the delegation
stepped in, the young-man rose from his seat held the ADF President with his
head on his shoulders, with tearful eyes. The rest of the delegation was
speechless, beholding the scene with tearful eyes. Silence for some time. Then,
he spoke to the ADF Delegation, and revealed the main reason for his tears. He
said that they told him in the Kuje prison, in fact that they constantly mocked
him by telling him that his people had abandoned him as a way-ward child. Could
it be true? No, for we told him that ADF and other Igbo patriots and all lovers
of freedom and justice in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, nay the entire
global conscience recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. We told him that God never abandons those who
struggle so that others may be free.
Sir, may we recall that since his
conditional release from prison, he has visited several Igbo leaders. Some of
whom many people in Alaigbo hold in high esteem. If he is found him taking
positions that are not in the overall interest of Ndigbo, we should invite him
to an in-house dialogue with some of these elders present. ADF believes that
such an environment will undoubtedly produce needed results.
Dear President-General, please do not
misunderstand ADF. We are not saying that if you invite Nnamdi Kanu to ask him
to abandon Biafra and abandon restructuring, he should agree with you. No! Even if you invite him in the midst of one
million Igbo elders and ask him to do so. Of course, we know that no
well-meaning Igbo elder (many of whom have had their moments of humiliation
because they are Igbo); we don’t believe that they will support such position
which we know is the past-time of those who trade with Igbo interest, agonies
and predicament. Those are the people of whom Ag President Osibanjo has told
the Nigerian military, the country and the world that when they say “My people are marginalized”, they mean
to beg “APPOINT ME” What a shame!
So our dear President-General of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo, you can see what ADF means when she says that a lot was basically WRONG
with your recent speech on the floor of the Anambra State House of Assembly. If
the President-General had called a meeting of IME-OBI OHANAEZE NDIGBO on this
critical issue, the elders would have not only given him their mandate just on
the issue of Anambra election, they would have Doziele Ya Olu in terms of how to say it, where to say it and when
to say it.
Again Sir, the Chairman of Afenifere would
not publicly address OPC the way the Ohanaeze President did to Nnamdi Kanu and
the IPOB. The South-South leaders are not known to address their militants that
way. President Buhari never chided the Boko Haram in the early days Ndigbo and
Christian Churches were the main targets of their terrorist attacks. Our
brother General Ihejirika was about being taken to the International Criminal Court
of |Justice, accused of killing Arewa Youths, when all he did was to fight the
Boko Haram terrorists to a stand-still. Even now that the Arewa Youths are
threatening Ndigbo and their property in the Arewa territories of Nigeria,
their leadership have vowed that heavens will fall if they are arrested over
their plan to attack Ndigbo by October 1, 2017.
Finally, with due respect to the exhausted
office of Ohanaeze President-General, as technically the Chairman of Nzuko
Amala Ndigbo, otherwise called Ohanazez Ndigbo, we urge you to please enlighten
us on what is meant by your statement reported in Authority Newspaper (Friday June
30, 2017, p.4), and we quote –
“.. the fact
remains that we (Ndigbo) are still part and parcel of the present Federal
Republic of Nigeria, bound by its laws , no matter how repressive or unjust”
Yes, the Alaigbo Development Foundation
(ADF) would like to remind all and sundry that Nnamdi Kanu is not an anointed
Igbo leader. No! He cannot claim to be that. But May 30 2017 made a Bold
Glogal (Not Just A National) Statement Which Is The Cause Of Why Aruru Nile
Sina Arinsi Aka Nri, Na Aka Ikpa; Site Nihu, Site Nazu; Site Nelu Ma Site Kwa
Nala!
ADF does not care who takes the credit.
Certainly not Ohanaeze and certainly not those who reject both Biafra and
Restructuring. By the way what do the last group want from Ndigbo?
Surrender
to the existing condition of Slavery! God Forbid!
PROF UZODINMA
NWALA PROF
NATH ANIEKWU
ADF President ADF Secretary
COL JUSTINO EZEOKE
(RTD)
ADF Publicity
Secretary
July 3, 2017.
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