As the Ohanaeze Ndigbo elections approaches, there has been a flurry of narratives and opinions that have generated mixed feelings amongst Ndigbo worldwide.

A retired military officer, Maj-Gen. Collins Remy Ugo Ihekire, has described some of the current actions and narratives in the upcoming election and the process of choosing the President General as unfortunate, and would continue the sad and lackluster showing of Ndigbo at the national level.

He maintained that unless the current abnormal act of using political machinations instead of cultural precepts to select the President General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, that the needed legitimacy and credibility as a people-chosen leadership shall continually elude the organisation.

In a statement issued on Thursday in Owerri, Ihekire called on the current executive of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to ensure that they leave a legacy by bequeathing Ndigbo a credible and acceptable leadership that truly represent Ndigbo.

The statement reads: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, as has been stated severally, is the apex socio-cultural umbrella organization of Ndigbo worldwide. You can, if you wish, stress or underline the word or phrase socio-cultural. This is to distinguish it from partisan political associations.

“It therefore means that the process of choosing the Head of this social cultural organization, which is the President General, must reflect the socio-cultural setting and process that produces leadership in line with the culture of our people and must not follow the process of partisan politics that produces the political leaders of political organizations.

“The truth is that, when a natural leader of the people emerges through the cultural process of the people, that leader will truly represent everybody and is the only person, who, when he speaks, is accepted as speaking the minds of everybody on socio-cultural issues. He is the natural and true leader of his people because he leads everybody.

“On the other hand, the leader of a partisan organization or political party represents only the ideologies of his party noting however that there are other political parties each with its own ideologies existing within the same society. So, while the natural leader that is thrown up by the socio-cultural system represents the ideology of everybody on social cultural issues and how the group should exist, the leader of the partisan organization or party does not represent the ideologies of everybody but only the ideology of his own political party.

“Therefore, the leader of the partisan organization or party cannot speak for other political parties on political issues because the political leader is at best only the leader of the party in power only at that point in time until he leaves office or power. Unfortunately, the process of the emergence of the President General now follows the partisan political process.

“Aspirants now have to apply for the job just like in a political party, and follow up with consultations particularly of political leaders instead of the natural leaders of the people which we know very well”.

“In my opinion, the choice of President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo should not be one open to application after which the applicants begin to move around to consult. In our clime, we all know what consultation entails; going to lobby, so called stakeholders with kola-nuts and drinks and when they are leaving, the person they came to consult will most times look forward to the aspirants to drop huge sums of money behind.

“This is not the process that should be encouraged in the society that intends to fight corruption especially for the job that does not carry any defined salary and it is the adoption of this particular process over the years that has contributed largely to creating doubts about the integrity of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide.

“Therefore, every attempt must be made to ensure that Ohanaeze Ndigbo does not use the process for choosing a partisan political leader to choose the natural leader of our people. The consequence is that both the process of choosing and choice eventually made become politicized which will not augur well for the unity of purpose of our people and that is where our survival as a race really hinges.

“The process to choose the President General of Ohanaeze must start with the drawing up of criteria for eligibility for the office by the relevant national organ of Ohanaeze and of course guided by the Constitution of Ohanaeze. These criteria may be suitably crafted without offending the constitution, to include conditions that would help find a President General that can stoically protect Ndigbo from the existential threats we are now facing.

“This process in my own particular community starts from the “Amarama (Meeting of the Kindred), to Aladinma at village level and finally to Ndi O Ji Ofor” at town level (which in many communities have now been played down and their role in community taken over by the town union) and from there to Ohanaeze Ndigbo LG to State and finally to National.

“Our cultural process should, by itself, throw up suitable candidates after looking through our rank and file and making nominations based on what is known of such nominees. Nominations should start at the local government levels and the best three nominees (not applicants) should emerge after being interviewed by an accomplished panel of Ohanaeze at the local government level.

“For ease of administration, further screening can be done at senatorial zones before final screening at the state level to choose three nominees who will be presented to the national committee for final election.

“A lot of people, particularly the politicians, believe that the end justifies the means of attaining the end. This Machiavellian approach to power may have found its uses in the past but the dictates of our cultures and traditions have been adopted by modern best practices and it is now well known that the means of the process legitimizes the end.

“Therefore, if the emergence of the next President General of Ohanaeze is to be credible, and for the President General to get the massive support he needs for his tenure, it is ultimately essential that only actions that will give credibility to the process and legitimacy to the person who eventually emerges as President General of Ohanaeze be taken at this time.”