By John Owen Nwachukwu Elder statesman, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has reacted to the controversy trailing the emergence of an Ikwerre indi...
By John Owen Nwachukwu
Elder statesman, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has reacted to the
controversy trailing the emergence of an Ikwerre indigene as the President of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Some Ikwerre indigenes of Rivers State are insisting that
they are not Igbos.
Recall that the immediate past governor of Rivers State,
Nyesom Wike, an Ikwerre man, has always maintained that he is not an Igbo man.
However, the current President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Senator
John Azuta-Mbata, an Ikwerre indigene, recently said he was not going to deny
his Igbo origin because of politics.
Speaking in an interview with DAILY POST recently, Obidigbo
explained that before the Biafra civil war, the Igbos occupied most of Port
Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
He added, “Rhe Ikwerre’s were part of the Igbo and they
never, for one day, denied their Igboness, for one day, they never did.
“Every Ikwerre man knew that he was an Igbo person. Even in
the Opobo area, they believe that they are Igbo people, even where this present
governor (Sim Fubara) comes from, they believe they are Igbo people and they
are Igbo people, they speak Igbo, all of them.
“Wike said he is not Igbo. Then let him go to whatever he
wants to belong to. If Mbata accepts that he is Igbo and he is from Ikwerre and
Ohanaeze presidency is being rotated across board, that is to say, it is the
turn of Rivers to produce the president.
“They are not a minority in Rivers and those of them that
believe they are Igbo, believe they are Igbo because they are realistic about
their Igboness.
“Those who say they are not Igbo are afraid of something,
they are cowards. They are people who believe that if they say they are Igbo,
then they might be denied certain benefits that they get. That is not enough
reason to deny your own people. It is not enough reason.”
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