The youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has threatened to sanction the All Progressives Congress (APC) for allegedly linking the former Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika with the activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The Igbo Youths yesterday gave the APC a 48-hour ultimatum to apologise to the ex-army General and Ndigbo, failing which they would label the party as anti-Igbo.

The group issued the ultimatum to APC in a statement released from its National Secretariat titled ‘ongoing attempts to brand General Ihejirika a Boko Haram sponsor’, and signed by its National Secretary, Emmanuel Okwu Nnabuike, and Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe.

According to the statement, Ohanaeze youth wing condemned the ongoing attempts to smear the hard-earned reputation of General Ihejirika, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, on the spurious allegation of being a Boko Haram sponsor.

The statement reads further: “It is on record that the same people trying to frame up General Ihejirika are the same people who claimed they would make Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan, in the aftermath of the 2011 presidential election.

“We view the call for Ihejirika’s trial by the APC, through its spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, without bothering to confirm the authenticity of the statement, as malicious and premeditated.

“Now that the Director of State Security has officially absolved Ihejirika of any complicity in the matter, we ask the APC to issue an apology to General Ihejirika and Ndigbo within 48 hours.

“If they fail to do so, the APC shall be formally labeled an anti-Igbo party and other sanctions shall follow.

“Security is too weighty to be politicised. Therefore, it is unpatriotic for political leaders to embark on character assassination based on unsubstantiated and misguided rumours.

“Dr. Stephen Davies has shown himself to be a fraudulent character and a mercenary, whose stock in trade is the distortion of information in order to cause chaos, thereby creating more business for him.”

The group noted that Davies employed cheap propaganda tactics by naming former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who has been consistently linked with the emergence and sponsorship of Boko Haram, as the sect’s sponsor and therefore linking him with Ihejirika as a co-sponsor would lend credence to the story, in the eyes of gullible members of the public.

The Igbo youths pointed out that Davies did not proffer a single shred of evidence or motivation for Ihejirika, a Christian and an Igbo from the South-East, to sponsor Boko Haram. They noted that his claim that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official, who handled the funding of Boko Haram “is an uncle to three of the Nyanya bombing suspects, was equally disproved by the Director of State Security (DSS), thereby showing his story to be faulty.”

Citing the DSS, “it is uncharitable for Nigerians to reward someone who laid down his life in defence of his country by associating him with the sponsorship of the sect,” the Igbo youths said.

The group warned all those involved in the smear campaign to desist from such wicked and unpatriotic acts immediately and saluted Gen Ihejirika once more for the great job he did as a Chief of Army Staff, especially with regards to fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.

•Adapted from a Nigerian Tribune report. Photo shows APC spokesman Lai Mohammed.