There looks to be an impending crisis waiting to happen to the Apex Igbo Socio-Cultural Organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo following the aftermath of the just-concluded Youth and Women Wing elections of the Organization.
There are serious allegations of ill-treatment and misconduct during the elections by some members of the youth wing who are teaming efforts to challenge the outcome of the exercise by all legal means.
A high ranking member of the National Executive Committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that “some of the aggrieved youths are gearing up to fight for their trampled rights”. He went further to state that “at the last NEC meeting in Enugu, petitions on the abnormalities have started coming in, and there is a likely jettisoning of the outcome of the election because of some deliberate flaws”
They alleged that the election which produced the former Deputy to the estranged Okechukwu Isiguzoro and land agent Mr. Arthur Obiora as President, was dented with acts best described as undemocratic.
In a petition sent in by one Henry Ugochukwu Opara who contested for the post of Publicity Secretary sighted by this medium, “the Chairman of the Electoral Committee and unconstitutionally appointed Ohanaeze Ndigbo President of Imo state, Dr. Ezechi Chukwu and the Vice President, Rivers State, Mr. Igo Opanamma with the aid of the Ohanaeze Administrative Secretary, Mr. Eugene Ibeabuchi ,went against all democratically- acceptable norms in order to ensure the emergence of their “anointed candidates”.
Opara’s petition also stated that Ezechi recruited one Chinedu Arthur Ugwa to intimidate voters and ensure they voted for those who met up with their financial demands while Igo Opanamma recruited students from IMT Enugu to pose as delegates.
However, it was gatheres that the petition which was received at the office of the Administrative Secretary has been stopped by the trio of Ezechi, Oparamma and Ibeabuchi.
But that is not the case of Mr.McDonald Ubani who was the sole candidate for the office of Ex-Officio (Abia) before his name was deliberately removed and substituted with one Okechukwu Dike who never applied for the position, as his letter was directly delivered to the National Executive Committee with Chief Nnia Nwodo presiding.
Most of the candidates in the election who were schemed out by the electoral committee complained bitterly about the Committee’s flouting of their own guidelines while Dr. Chukwu Ezechi , Mr. Igo Oparamma and Eugene Ibeabuchi are seriously fingered for collecting monies from candidates and their sponsors.
According to Comrade Afunike Don-Christian, a contestant for the post of Deputy President, “there was continuous sale of forms till the day of the election, even after the screening of candidates. These are acts against the electoral guidelines”
He went further to state that “the list of screened candidates was not published, and candidates were not allowed to present their manifestos before the commencement of voting. This he said, was done in order to protect the unqualified candidates of some Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftains and some political actors who were bent on foisting their stooges on Ndigbo”
Against this backdrop, is the fact that the constitution of the Electoral Committee has credibility issues, as the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Chukwu Ezechi is not a constitutionally-elected President, but an appointee of the former Imo state Ohanaeze Ndigbo President, Dr. Ukegbu; hence he is least qualified to head such a sensitive body.
In line with the impunity, Dr. Ezechi, appointed one Kingsley Egbechue as the Ohanaeze Youth Leader for Imo state, and both of them handpicked hired hands in Enugu to stand in as Imo youths for the election.
Similarly, Mr. Igo Oparamma parades himself as the President of Rivers state Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the place of Barr. Mpi who was duly elected.
As part of the impunities aimed at manipulating the outcome of the elections, the elected president of the Ohanaeze Youth Wing of Rivers state, Comrade Bobby Ezemonye was sidetracked for a handpicked Frank Ezeiro who mobilized some students of IMT Enugu as delegates for the election.
It should also be noted that their imposed candidate for the National Youth Leader is ab initio not qualified to contest as he is a grand father and very well over 50years of age, which is the maximum age limit stipulated as criteria for candidates for the election.
The age limit was 45years as was the case in 2014 Youth Election but Chief Arthur Obiorah allegedly paid the Electoral Committee Chairman and an influential member of the committee, Chief Igo Oparamma the sum of N2million Naira to influence the extension of the age limit from 45 to 50 years. They also covered him up during screening where Chief Obiorah presented a false age declaration to be cleared to contest. This explains the reason why the Electoral committee never publicly pasted the list of qualified candidates before the election as required by law & election guidelines to avoid protests by other candidates.
This follows that the Person declared the Elected National Youth Leader, Chief Arthur Obiorah was never a qualified candidate for elective Office in the Youth Wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the aggrieved party calls for his immediate withdrawal to avoid litigations in court.
With the unfolding development, there is the likely hood that the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization is set to face a crisis bigger than the fading Isiguzoro scandal, as some members of the Ime-Obi and elements not aligned to Nwodo’s leadership style are presently lending ears to the aggrieved candidates.
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