By CHARLES IWUOHA

Apex lgbo Socio-cultural Organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, has denied collecting $100,000 from Rivers State governor, Nyesom wike, to sabotage the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, in the just concluded general elections.

Ohanaeze also denied collecting another $ 300,000 from Governor Nyesom Wike for compensation on behalf of Obigbo massacre victims to facilitate their mass burial.

Reacting to rumours making the rounds by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Alex Chiedozie Ogbonnia, said their visit to Port Harcourt was to confront Wike over the alleged roles he played to rigged Peter Obi out from the Presidential race.

Ogbonnia, in a statement made available to News Express on Friday, March 10, 2023, stated that the meeting with Wike actually took place at the Executive Chambers of Government House, Port Harcourt, and not in Hotel Presidential as alleged by Okechukwu Isiguzoro.

According to the statement,"Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has confronted His Excellency, Barr Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, the Governor of Rivers State, over his alleged roles against Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) during the presidential election which held on February 25, 2023.

“The meeting between the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Governor Wike took place on Thursaday, March 9, 2023 at the Exco Chambers, Government House, Port-Harcourt.

“The Ohanaeze delegation was led by Dr. Kingsley Chidozie, the Vice President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo (Abia) who nominated Barr Peter Aneke, to speak on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, after a one-minute silence for the late Ambassador Professor George Obiozor, and late Chief Joel Kroham, the former President-General and Deputy President-General, respectively.”

Ogbonnia noted that Dr. Aneke lauded Governor Wike over the cordial relationship between him and the Igbo community in Rivers State, adding that Ohanaeze highlighted on both the consanguity and contiguity between the people of the South East of Nigeria and the Rivers State.

The statement further added: "Ohanaeze wondered 'how an Ikwerre man' will, in good conscience, work against the Igbo in a presidential race where the candidacy of Peter Obi was a low hanging fruit."

Continuing, Ogbonnia said Ohanaezeinformed Wike that the "Igbo all over the world are aggrieved with him, especially as the alleged rigging operations are circulating on the Internet."

Ohanaeze noted that Aneke, who led the delegation, informed Wike that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo considers it a duty to confront him over the alleged wide-spread electoral malpractices in Rivers State against their son, Peter Obi.

He expressed deep sadness that "Obi would win in the metropolitan Lagos, Abuja, and several other places in the North only to record so low in Rivers State."

Aneke added that the "delegation is on a fact-finding visit; and that both the Igbo elders and youths are eager to know why he should go the extra mile to pull Obi down in Rivers State."

He expressed his worries that the body of the late Professor Obiozor would have turned in the grave because of the alleged atrocities in Rivers State.

Obiozor, according to him had "set the Igbo project on a success line before his demise and would be sad in the grave that those he considered his sons turned against the Igbo interest when it mattered most."

He asked Wike to "imagine what could have been the outcome of the election if he, Wike had supported Obi during the presidential election."

He ended with the remark that “the Igbo are very sad and will want his explanations.”

In his own remarks, Governor Wike expressed surprise that the Ohanaeze were on a fact finding mission but he would however explain his roles in the last presidential election.

Wike explained that the Southern Governors Forum first met at Asaba, Delta State and agreed that "power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari; and that they also met at Enugu in September 2021 to reaffirm their position for a power shift to the South."

Wike added that throughout their meetings, "the issue of presidency to the South East was never on the table. And that throughout his political adventure in this dispensation, he tried as much as possible to maintain the position by the Southern governors."

Wike expressed disgust that "during the PDP presidential primaries, several well known people of the South East betrayed and sabotaged the Southern interest by voting for the Northern candidates for presidency."

According to the Rivers helmsman, his unalloyed commitment for the South motivated him to "provide logistics for Peter Obi when he was in the Rivers State for presidential campaigns and that he refused to provide even a campaign ground for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the PDP on principles."

The governor stated that "what is circulating on the social media is the handiwork of the Wike adversaries."

For instance, the “Full Audio of Governor Wike Caught on Tape Arranging Bribe for INEC Officials” and published by an online medium, "has been on YouTube since December 16, 2016."

He explained that "some mischief makers were using some doctored and false audio and visual materials on the internet to dent his image."

The Governor, in admitting that all the decisions he took, "with respect to the 2023 presidential elections were based on his personal convictions and queried if Ohanaeze Ndigbo ever requested him to support Peter Obi."

He added that he was a "man with the courage of his convictions and that he neither has reasons to tell lies nor to owe apology to anyone."

Saying that he is "always ready to defend his actions any day any time," Wike stressed that "he did not rig the Presidential election against Peter Obi."

Other Ohanaeze officials in the delegation included Chief Emeka Ogwu, the Vice President-General (Delta); Hon. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, Chief Ezechi Chukwu, Prof Fred Eze, President, Enugu State Chapter; Mr. Lucky Ekeji, President, Rivers State Chapter; Comrade Okey Nwankwo, President, Abia State Chapter; Prince Nwandu, President, Delta State Chapter; among others. Several eminent persons from Rivers State such as Rt. Hon. Chibudom Nwuche, were in attendance.