The death last week of the President-General (PG) of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, months after he raised an alarm over threat to his life is generating much concern among many Igbo leaders. Sources said this was more so, given the fact that several of these leaders, who had recently occupied the office of the Presidents-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo have either been threatened, physically attacked or their homes bombed. From the tenure of Chief John Nnia Nwodo to the exit of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, there had been a dissident and parallel group antagonizing Ohanaeze. There has also been the defiant rivalry between the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who always felt their organization was not under the leadership of Ohanaeze and pushed dissenting opinions against the apex Igbo group. On Sunday April 2018, without any indication or known provocation, the country home of Chief John Nwodo, the then PresidentGeneral of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, was bombed and parts of the property destroyed. Not a few observers believed at the time that Nwodo was the target of the attack and not just his property. At the end of his tenure in 2021, Prof. George Obiozor succeeded Nwodo as the 10th President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. While Nwodo survived the impact of the bombing of his country home, it was not entirely the same for Obiozor. On March 21, 2022, the modest country home of Prof. George Obiozor in Awo-Omamma was set ablaze by men widely described as “unknown gunmen”.

He was not at home when they struck, so they set his home and that of his brother ablaze. Nine months after the attack, Prof. George Obiozor died. A friend of Obiozor, Dame Comfort Obi, gave an insight into what many suspected to be true at the time. She wrote: “He was called names. Yet, all he wanted was a peaceful, prosperous Igboland, where the safety of his people is guaranteed, where waywardness will not be stretched to the extent where the Igbo would turn the sword against one another, and murder themselves one after the other. Yet, we killed him before he finally died. Prof died a sad man. “Obiozor first died on March 21, 2022, the day his country home and everything in it were burnt down by his own people; by those young enough to be his children. I spoke to him a few days after that tragic incident, and he couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t understand why he was a target. He couldn’t understand why his own people came after him so viciously.

He kept asking: “Why, why?” Then he added: “I am finished. They finished me.” Even though we were miles apart, I could touch his pains.” Obiozor was succeeded by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu on the 30th of April, 2023 and Iwuanyanwu struggled with the same turbulence; wading through threats of death and burning of his home. One year and three months later, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu also died, having gone through the same trajectory of animosity, threats of death and arson which were also experienced by his predecessors. Before his demise, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu had raised the alarm, stating categorically that certain persons were threatening his life and threatening to burn down his home. Recall that at a press conference at the National Secretariat of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu following the threats, Iwuanyanwu among other things, said: “I am addressing Igbo people all over the world, that if this kind of thing is not nipped in the bud, it is going to be very disastrous.

This thing didn’t start today. Joe Irukwu, Ralph Uwaechie were all maligned. As they went after Nwodo, they bombed his house. “Those of us who were close to Obiozor, you know he was a very nice diplomat. It’s this kind of thing that killed him. He’s not like people like us. I served in the army, I have thick skin. “These people have carried this too far. Some time ago, I got some information that some people are coming to burn my house. Those people said they were hired to come and burn my house. Some people also said they were hired to come and kill me. All sorts of stories like that. And I started asking myself: what is it that I have done that would warrant that my house should be burnt or that I should be killed?” An Igbo leader of thought said the office of Ohanaeze PG is a “high wired one, not for the chicken hearted, because he has to lead from the front and even step on toes.”, He added: “Remember Chief Gary Igariwe was threatened by a sitting governor, while late Chief Ralph Nwuche went through similar treatment” Though Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s family has confirmed his death at 82, it is yet to come up with its direct causes. (Sunday Telegraph)

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