Following the outrageous outcries that have greeted the recent appointments made by President Muhammad Buhari, Secretary General,apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Joe Nwaorgu, has called on Ndigbo to remain calm in the present circumstance of unexplainable and skewed pattern of appointments which has completely excluded Ndigbo from key strategic positions in the Federal Government.
Speaking with Journalists in Enugu, Monday, against the backdrop of the appointment of principal officers in the presidency and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Dr. Nwaorgu said that the call for Ndigbo to remain calm had become necessary because of the numerous telephone calls from Ndigbo all over Nigeria and in the Diaspora expressing shock and disbelief at the appointments.
He said that some Ndigbo who have telephoned on the issue had queried “whether Ndigbo are still regarded as part of Nigeria.”
(FILES)- A March 2, 2012 file photo shows an Ohafia cultural troupe entertaining bystanders during the burial of Nigeria’s secessionist leader Odumegwu Ojukwu at his native Nnewi country home, in Anambra State eastern Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu, who championed the campaign for an independent Republic of Biafra in eastern Nigeria in the 1960s culminating in a 30-month civil war which left more than a million dead was buried at his Nnewi family home in Anambra State. Its name is synonomous with the declaration of independence and updates on the brutal conflict that followed, but nearly 50 years after Nigeria’s civil war, Radio Biafra is again making headlines. AFP PHOTO
The Ohanaeze Secretary General requested Ndigbo not to overreact either by word or otherwise to this ugly situation of total exclusion.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo urges Ndigbo to continue to be nation builders anywhere they are and not to be downcast by what has happened.
“Ohanaeze strongly believes that a President of Nigeria is the president for all Nigerians and that equity and fair-play for all Nigerians will be respected,” Nwaorgu said.
Also speaking in the same vein on telephone from Abuja, Monday, a former Minister of Health, Professor A.B.C Nwosu said that he was not surprised that the appointments excluded Ndigbo.
According to him, “many Ndigbo expected this to be so even during the campaigns and that was why they voted the way they did.”
He stated that “Ndigbo should not be troubled by this development because they have seen and survived worse situations in Nigeria and there is no cause for mourning the present development.
He stated that “Ndigbo should not be troubled by this development because they have seen and survived worse situations in Nigeria and there is no cause for mourning the present development.
“Ndigbo should continue to be strong and committed to nation building and await the envisaged remedial action as stated by the presidency even though, personally, I do not see any position that will equal the position of the Secretary to Government of the Federation and its centrality in the exercise of federal power in Nigeria.”
Prof. Nwosu advised that upon conclusion of major appointments, Ohanaeze Ndigbo in consultation with Igbo organizations like Aka Ikenga, Ndigbo Lagos, World Igbo Congress, Igbo World Assembly, Izu Umunna, Igbo Leaders of Thought and so on should summon a meeting of Igbo leaders and elders to review the situation.
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