Ohaneze Crisis: “We Are Close To Meeting With The Lagos State Govt!” Chief Sunday Ossai
Albeit the crisis still steaming from the impeachment of the former president of
Ohaneze Ndigbo Lagos State, Chief Solomon Aguene, over allegations of
tenure elongation amid his retention of office, the newly-elected president –
Chief Sunday Ossai – has disclosed that plans are afoot to meet with the Lagos
State Government to officially present him as the new president of Ohaneze
Ndigbo Lagos State.
Ossai, while disclosing this to Eastern Eye Magazine, bade the Lagos State
Government to stop dealing with Chief Solomon as news are rife that he is still
parading himself to them as the Ohaneze Lagos president.
Beyond the crisis, Chief Ossai spoke on other issues; excerpts:
On The Two Factions:
There can’t be two factions and I don’t believe that there are two factions of
Ohaneze Ndigbo, rather there is an impostor. The impeached president is
claiming to be the president. He is like a general without soldiers because what
Ohaneze needs is the people and the king. A situation where you don’t have the
king and the people behind you, and you are brandishing yourself as the
president, I don’t take that one as a faction. A faction of Ohaneze is a situation
whereby some people are with you or some leaders are with you but in this
regard, there is nobody with you. So, I don’t believe there is a faction of
Ohaneze. I only believe on the Ohaneze under my leadership; an Ohaneze
affiliated with the national body; an Ohaneze with the people and the king
behind him; an Ohaneze with the whole Igbo and the unity of one voice saying,
‘this is our president'.
So, the other person is just an impostor who thinks money can do everything for
him.
On Assuming Office In The Secretariat:
Yes, I ought to have assumed office in that secretariat but eventually, the
impeached president refuses to vacate the office. But there is a way we are
planning to vacate him by force though not through fighting. I don’t want the
image of Igbo to be tainted in the public. I don’t want the means of him to
vacate the secretariat to dominate the headlines or police issue; so, it would be
wisely handled by elders and stakeholders of Ndigbo in Lagos. With time, he
must vacate there.
On The Former President Still Parading Himself As Such:
A plan is on the way for stakeholders, elders and Ndi Eze of Ndigbo to go and
officially inform the Lagos State Government that the tenure of the former
president has expired and his intent to perpetuate himself in office with
elongation of tenure, citing Covid-19 and EndSARs crisis, as an excuse. But
then, it is being competently handled by the elders of Ndigbo in Lagos, and with
due time, the Lagos State Government will be officially informed about the
change of leadership of Ohaneze. I have just been elected and there are lines of
action to finally dismantle him to stop him from parading himself as the
President of Ohaneze, Lagos. Once this is successfully done, I think we have
achieved the result without making noise or fighting ourselves.
On His Manifestoes:
As the newly-elected president of Ohaneze Lagos, I have a very fine manifesto
that if successfully implemented, will benefit all the Igbo, both in Lagos
diaspora and elsewhere in Nigeria because Igbo is known for commerce. I want
Igbo to dominate commerce in Nigeria, and to be very successful in it – because
that is what we are known for.
Again, I don’t want any Igbo to suffer injustice in Nigeria and so, have planned
to provide free legal services to any Igbo person being victim of human rights
abuse or being victim of social abuse or security personnel rascality – these are
just a tip of what I have planned for the Ndigbo.
Apart from that, I wish I will make the Igbo comfortable wherever they are. I
will achieve results by protecting their interests and rights and achieve results,
even without making noise or fighting. I will achieve such in a very peaceful
and diplomatic manner. I’m saying so because we cannot achieve anything by
force rather it would worsen the situation.
On Ohaneze Ndigbo Lagos’ Preferred Candidate For 2023:
Ohaneze Ndigbo is a social-cultural organization; we are not partisans but you
know, every ‘animal’ is a politician; though individually, we have our minds
somewhere but Lagos State is where we exist, reside and earn our living,
therefore, anything that would be made to support the Government of the day in
Lagos Sate, we will do that. They are our host and have provided us with
comfort and various markets that dot the State. We have been given a freehand
to execute our businesses. Under these circumstances, we have no option than to
support the Government in power so that they can continue to offer us the olive
branch to fully execute our business,
On Igbo Developing Their Homelands:
There is a project being managed by the national body of Ohaneze and that
project is ‘Think Home Mantra’ – I will make sure that the Igbo will start to
invest some of their businesses in Igbo land so that the equation will be
balanced; so that our home too can witness development as we are developing
our host and communities. So. Lagos State Ohaneze will support virtually every
item of the ‘Think Home Mantra’ being initiated by the Ohaneze worldwide.
On The Insecurity in East:
Insecurity is a general phenomenon in Nigeria right now but we are not
relenting; we are making every effort that will minimize insecurity in Igbo land
and partially, synergy with the Federal Govt to provide security for the citizenry
of Igbo. While doing so, we will be organizing workshop whereby the negative
impacts of insecurity will be made know to everybody because these ‘people’
are children of Ndigbo; so that their parents can adequately caution them to
desist from ever taking arms against a fellow human being. Idleness is the
devil’s workshop – we enjoin the State and the Federal Government to do
everything humanly possible to provide jobs for the teeming youth.
The sparse space of land is where millions of youth can be engaged in
agricultural products. By then, the youth would be engaged and the economy
would be boosted and there would be sufficient food for the people. The youth
can be easily lured into criminality when they are hungry. One of the criminal
elements can be lavishly spending money, then, an hungry youth watching them
can be easily lure into that act, because after spending on them, these criminal
elements can stop and ask the youth to join them in their criminal activities.
The key to the stoppage of this insecurity is to provide job.
Advice To Every Igbo In Lagos:
Be serious and take whatever you are doing very serious and when crisis erupt,
they should abstain from taking revenge or offence at anybody; rather, they
should dialogue and that is why the secretariat of Ohaneze is open to them.
I can remember when I was young when I used to take security shelter in my
mother’s room; any time I ran away from trouble into my mom’s room, I always
feel secured – that is how I want every Igbo to feel secured and free to come and
complain at Ohaneze secretariat so that necessary action would be take to nip
the crisis at the budding stage or even to fight for compensation if there’s any
damage to his property.
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