Nnia Nwodo, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has explained that the decision of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to endorse Atiku/Obi ticket was not based on party but on the collective interest of Ndigbo and their survival in Nigeria.

In a statement in Enugu on Thursday by Emeka Attamah, Nwodo’s Special Adviser on Media, the President General stated that by the Awka Declaration by Ndigbo that restructuring remained the irreducible minimum for their continued stay in the Nigerian project, they had tacitly expressed their choice of any candidate who espoused restructuring.

Nwodo wondered why some people could be speaking from both sides of their mouth by expressing surprise at the endorsement of Atiku by the highest decision-making organ of the body, the Imeobi, that had shown great commitment and determination to carry through positive reforms in the polity that would afford the people greater access to good governance and resources.

The President General debunked the view being peddled that Ohanaeze leadership deliberately fixed the Imeobi meeting to sabotage the commissioning of Zik’s Mausoleum, adding that neither the federal nor the state government invited Ohanaeze Ndigbo to the ceremony, and that they were not aware of the event.

On whether Imeobi actually met and took the decision, Nwodo said the National Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu, must be under some kind of delusion to have alleged that the Imeobi didn’t meet as he was present at both the National Executive Council and the Imeobi meetings where the decision was taken and ratified.

Nwodo further explained that the continued marginalisation of Ndigbo in the country, both in appointments and infrastructure, coupled with the blatant refusal of the ruling party to restructure the country, left Ohanaeze Ndigbo no choice but to follow those keyed into it.

He enumerated more than ten juicy positions held by indigenes of Bauchi State alone while the whole of South East has been neglected and wondered if it was not the height of insult to Ndigbo for Mr. President to come to Igboland and tell them that none of their sons or daughters was ripe for appointment, and cited the examples of two Igbo Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) who were recently retired to pave way for a junior officer from the North to become the Inspector General of Police.

•Excerpted from a Daily Independent report