the apex igbo sociocultural organizationOhanaeze Ndigbo, has denied threatening to work against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 presidential election.
The group was reacting to a press release purportedly made by an unidentified person, on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which claimed that the Igbos would rise up against Abubakar and push back the PDP in the southeast.
The statement was said to be made after Abubakar defeated other challengers, including those from the southeast, in the PDP primary on Saturday.
But in a statement from his spokesperson, Chiedozie Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze Ndigbo repudiated the statement, describing those behind it as “mischievous, imposters, charlatans and unscrupulous social climbers.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo lamented that those who issued the “fake press release” have been following in their footsteps to mislead unsuspecting members of the public, noting that their activities have been the bane of Igbo cohesion.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the main Igbo socio-cultural body, led by the ambassador, Professor George Obiozor, has not issued any press release regarding the candidacy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” Ogbonnia said.
“Ohanaeze is looking forward to the full result of the ongoing primaries of all political parties before he can issue a press release regarding the position of the Igbo in the 2023 general election,” he added.
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Ohanaeze’s spokesman asked the public to ignore any statement that did not come from the group’s secretary general, Okey Emuchay.
There have been calls from leaders in the southeast that the region should be allowed to produce a president in 2023 for the first time.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has been at the forefront of agitation for the extraction president of southeastern Nigeria.
The inability of a challenger from the Southeast to emerge as a PDP presidential candidate appears to have angered some residents of the Southeast.
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