The National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council(OYC), the apex youth body of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka has admonished Mr Chidi Ibe to refrain from making inciting statements capable of causing disunity and disharmony among Igbos.

Igboayaka gave the reprimand after the Council’s stakeholders’ meeting conveyed to x-ray the insultive utterances of Mr Ibe since the emergence of Prof. George Obiozor, as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

Addressing newsmen in Owerri on Saturday January 23, 2021, the youth leader maintained that Mr. Ibe’s inciting statements against Ohanaeze Ndigbo is emboldened by the sponsorship he enjoys from Senator Rochas Okorocha.

Comrade Igboayaka stated that Rochas Okorocha’s unguarded tirades against Prof. George Obiozor was due to the insinuation and assumption that Prof. Obiozor and Sen. Hope Uzodinma are very close friends, stating that this was Okorocha’s statement at Ogboko when he(Igboayaka) had a meeting with him on the way forward for Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“It’s obvious that Prof. Obiozor’s ambition to become the president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was not conceived during Sen. Hope Uzodinma’s administration as the former had severally consulted Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha when he was the governor of Imo State.

“Rochas Okorocha wants to anchor his presidential ambition with sentiments on Ohanaeze Ndigbo and IPOB which explains why he was using Chidi Ibe to incite IPOB against the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to achieve a political sympathy and love from IPOB members,” Igboayaka noted.

“It’s very unfortunate that since the inception of Biafra agitation, many Igbo politicians have used pro-Biafrans to achieve their political selfish interests, and at the end they give pro-Biafra members name. Today, Chidi Ibe and Rochas Okorocha have found a new love in IPOB like Romeo and Juliet, just to project themselves as lovers of the Biafra movement,” Igboayaka stated.

“Were was Rochas Okorocha and Chidi Ibe when IPOB members are being killed and tortured by the security agents, and how many IPOB members did Ibe empower when he was Commissioner in Okorocha’s administration,” Igboayaka queried.

The OYC president stated that Chidi Ibe was using his inciting statements stressed mobilize IPOB for Okorocha’s presidential project, stressing that it is unacceptable for anyone to use his personal ambition to cause crisis with Igbo youths in IPOB.

He decried that the time and resources Okorocha was wasting in court to distract his brother Prof. Obiozor, could be channelled to a substantive adventure that can favour Ndigbo, wondering how at this critical point the Igbos are eaten starkly by leprosy while Rochas Okorocha and Chidi Ibe are busy romancing ringworm.

“Enough of this gimmick and nonsense by desperate Igbo politicians using Ndigbo and Biafra quest to whip up sentiments while in actual sense they are major beneficiaries of looting of Nigeria’s treasury,” Igboayaka warned.

“Ohanaeze Youth Council will not succumb to the politics of divide and rule by Chidi Ibe and his master Sen. Rochas Okorocha in Igbo land, but any patriotic progressive who love Ndigbo should drop his or her personal agenda and earnestly support Prof. Obiozor to build a new Igbo society as he leads the great Igbo race in the next four years,” he concluded.

While the 2018 sacked chairmen and councilors are still wallowing in pains over series of attempts to return to the Local Governments after their suspension which started during the short term of the Ihedioha led Government to the Uzodinma led administration, the Court of Appeal  Owerri  Division had last Thursday  January 19, gave a long adjournment to May 22 2021.

This is even as the official tenure of the embattled chairmen and councilors would expire August same 2021.

2018 elected chairmen and councilors had dragged the short lived Ihedioha  led Government to the High Court, where they prayed amongst others, for the Court to reinstate them after their illegal suspension by the said Government.

While the suit was still pending in the Court,  Ihedioha was removed as the Governor of Imo state by the Supreme Court and in his place, Uzodinma  took over hence the continuation of the said suit.

Our Reporter who monitored the court process on the said date reported that majority of the sacked chairmen and councilors present at the court were   frustrated when the presiding Judge adjourned the matter to May 22, which is three months to the end of their tenure which is August this year.

Speaking to LEAD NEWSPAPERS, one of the sacked chairmen who would not want his name in print revealed  that  that the best option for the sacked chairmen and councilors was to abandon the ongoing suit at the Court of Appeal  while accusing the court of working in interest of the state Government.

He further pointed out that if the court was not already biased, under no circumstance that a matter of that nature would be adjourned to a long time for a continuation of hearing not even a judgment, he said.

One year to the build up to the 2023 elections, Imo North is yet to produce a senator to replace their late Senator, Benjamin Uwajumogu.

This is seen as Governor Uzodinma and Senator Araraume have surrendered their battle over the APC candidate for the said election to the Supreme Court which is yet to fix a date to hear the suit following controversies over the APC primaries.

Uwajumogu who died on the 18th December 2018 was buried early 2020 yet the zone has stayed without a senator.

Also Read:Umeadi Vs Uzodinma: Imo PDP Develops Cold Feet Over Delay In Supreme Court

Senator Araraume, one of the contestants to the APC primaries had dragged Ibezim to court, challenging his declaration by INEC as the candidate  of the party.

Few days to the APC primaries, the High Court upturned the candidature of Ibezim and replaced him with Araraume.

In same vain, Ibezim appealed against the lower Court’s judgment and at the Court of Appeal which Araraume appealed against at the Supreme Court.

At the time of filling this report, the Supreme Court has not fixed date to hear the suit between the duo of Araraume and Ibezim.

Some of the stakeholders in the zone have not  ceased to regret the non representation of the zone at the Senate getting to two years after the death of the former Senator, Benjamin Uwajumogu, an act which they described as a set back to the zone.

The situation is more worrisome as INEC has already fixed October 2022 for the primaries ahead of 2023 elections.

The implications of Okigwe having no Representative as its senator include that as the matters are still pending in courts, the tenure of any person that finally gets in as a senator drastically reducing and that would also affect the entire Okigwe Zone and Imo State in general.