Ikwerre group issues 7-day ultimatum to Mbata to resign as Ohaneze Ndigbo President

Credit: NAN

An Ikwerre interest group, Rivers Restoration Movement (RRM),  on Monday, issued 7-day ultimatum for John Azuta-Mbata to resign as President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, threatening to stage peaceful protests in Abuja, Rivers, and at United Nations offices across Nigeria.

The protesters vow to oppose the election of Sen. John Azuta-Mbata as President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, claiming the Ikwerre is not Igbo land.

Azuta-Mbata, an Ikwerre indigene from Rivers, was elected on Saturday, a move that sparked criticism from some of his kinsmen, who argue that the Ikwerre people are not ethnically Igbo.

Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, RRM’s Director-General, Johnson Georgewill, issued a seven-day ultimatum for Azuta-Mbata to resign, warning of resistance from the Ikwerre people if the demand was not met.

“We are outraged that the administration of Gov. Siminalayi Fubara supported Azuta-Mbata’s election as Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General purely for political reasons,” Georgewill stated.

He emphasised that Ikwerres are not ethnically Igbos and questioned why such an important position was given to someone allegedly outside the Igbo ethnic group.

“The President-General’s primary duty is to represent the interests of all Igbo people within and outside of Nigeria.

“Are the Ikwerre people Igbos to justify Azuta-Mbata representing them? The answer is a resounding no,” Georgewill declared.

He noted that the Ikwerre people have consistently rejected claims of being Igbos since the dissolution of the former Eastern Nigeria by Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s administration.

Georgewill accused Fubara’s administration of trying to use ethnicity to destabilise the Ikwerre people for political gain, vowing that the RRM would resist such attempts.

“Former Governor Nyesom Wike, who is the political leader in Rivers worked tirelessly to maintain a 50-year political alliance between the Ijaws and Ikwerre’s, which led to Fubara’s election.

“This move undermines that bond and humiliates Rivers people by attempting to enslave the Ikwerres,” he said.

Geogewill called on Gov. Fubara to withdraw his congratulatory message to Azuta-Mbata and urged the President-General to step down within seven days.

He dismissed arguments that Ikwerres are Igbos based on linguistic and cultural similarities, citing examples from the United Kingdom where the Welsh and Scots, despite similarities, do not consider themselves English.

The director-general also called on President Bola Tinubu, who also congratulated Azuta-Mbata, the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Service (DSS), and political leaders to intervene.

“Our founding fathers such as Melford Okilo, Obi Wali, Chief Nwaobidike Wonodi, and other great Ikwerre leaders will be turning in their graves by this development.

“This injustice transcends party affiliation; it concerns the people of Rivers state and their independence within the Nigerian state” Georgewill asserted.

He urged all true sons and daughters of Rivers to speak out against what he called an injustice.

The rejection of Mbata, an ally of Fubara, may stem from the political disputes between Wike and Fubara.

Sources suggested that the Wike’s camp views Mbata’s election as a political strategy designed to weaken Wike’s influence among his Ikwerre kinsmen.