We didn’t endorse Atiku – Ohanaeze Secretary-General

The endorsement of Atiku Abubakar by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo as its choice presidential candidate has been described as a huge lie. Sp...

The endorsement of Atiku Abubakar by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo as its choice presidential candidate has been described as a huge lie.

Speaking with reporters in Awka on Sunday, the Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Barr Uche Okwukwu said that there was never a meeting of Ime-Obi Ohanaeze where the body endorsed a candidate for Ndigbo.

He said, "The Ohanaeze Ndigbo never held a meeting of the Ime-Obi where we endorsed any candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

"Secondly, If we organize the Ime- Obi meeting, we inform members before hand and in the meeting, we also set up a communique committee that drafts the resolution or communique arising from the meeting which will be presented before the general house for ratification.

"No such thing was done and anybody purporting to have had any Imo-Obi meeting where Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was endorsed as our Presidential candidate is on his own."

Okwukwu further contended that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo as a body will soon hold the Ime-Obi meeting where it would discuss which presidential candidate it will endorse.

"If we choose to endorse anybody we shall do so when we organize the Ime-Obi meeting and that will be in no distant time," he said.

Okwukwu, however, announced that it would be in the interest of Ndigbo to support President Muhammadu Buhari for his second term in office.

"When we meet at the Ime-Obi meeting we shall choose a candidate and you know that we have Igbo sons and daughters who are contesting the election but we are not limiting it to Igbo candidates.

"But in the interest of Ndigbo, we should support President Muhammadu Buhari for the second term and that is the only way to get to our promised Land," he said.

Meanwhile, a group under the aeges of the Igbo Integrity Forum, led by Ndukwe Nwamkpa has called for the suspension of the Ohanaeze President, Chief John Nwodo.

In a statement from the body, it alleged that Nwodo compromised the wishes and aspirations of Ndigbo, adding that for him to have acted on his own without recourse to the Apex organization, is a betrayal of Ndigbo.

"This betrayal of Ndigbo calls for the suspension of Nwodo because of using the office to execute his personal ambition," he said.