•Says Igbo’ll be ‘Great Again’

By CHARLES IWUOHA

Factional President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has asked Ndigbo not to despair over the current situation of the region, assuring that things would soon turn around for the Igbo.

He spoke at the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd, Independence Layout, Enugu, during a thanksgiving service as part of this year’s Igbo Day Celebration which takes place at the Michael Okpara Square, Independence Layout, Enugu, on Friday, September 29, 2023.

Iwuanyanwu who was in the church service alongside the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Igbo leaders said the Igbo have the potentials to be great again, noting that his administration was doing everything possible to put them to work.

He commended the governors of the five South East states for their support to him since assumption of office as President General and assured that with such support and that of other Igbo leaders including Ndigbo in the Diaspora, the Igbo would soon regain their greatness.

Iwuanyanwu also thanked Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State for taking the funding of the Igbo Day celebration off the shoulders of Ohanaeze.

“We are here to give thanks to God, we believe in what the preacher said that once you put your trust in God, He will never fail you. My life is a testimony of God’s love.

“Enugu is the home of everybody in Eastern Nigeria. Enugu is the cradle of all the developments in Eastern Nigeria and whenever we come here, we have a sense of home coming, and that is how I feel right now,” Iwuanyanwu said.

Welcoming Ohanaeze Ndigbo to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma, urged all Igbo to support Iwuanyanwu’s leadership, explaining that he was a unanimous choice.

He said: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nnayi, Iwuanyanwu, I thank you for coming, my people please this is a new Ohanaeze Ndigbo. It is in this Cathedral compound that I hosted all church leaders, inviting all the Igbo leaders, several times, in order to ensure that Ndigbo have one voice and peace in Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

I tried everything to get Ndigbo together and we agreed to be one before Professor Obiozor died, now he is no more. I pray now that there is a new Ohanaeze under the leadership of Iwuanyanwu, we all met and said Iwuanyanwu should become the president-general and we have no more cases, no faction.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo now is ready to be self-funding, self-supporting. Deputy Governor, tell the governor that all the governors must support Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Chief Iwuanyanwu, all we are doing to make Ndigbo become one, God will help you, all efforts you are making God will help you.”

He, then, called on the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to Ohanaeze Ndigbo and its President General, to restore peace in the South East.

“We must make Tinubu to obey the rule of law, Nnamdi Kanu must be released; they should stop deceiving themselves. Let them release Nnamdi Kanu to Ohanaeze Ndigbo, let them release him to you and see what will happen.

“Thank God we are overcoming sit-at-home on Mondays, Peter Mbah is trying, insisting that Mondays must not be wasted, Alaigbo must not be wasted. Please all of you should cooperate, let us revive the economy of South East,” Chukwuma stated.

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