A group known as the Rivers Restoration Movement has announced plans to stage peaceful protests in Abuja, Rivers, and at United Nations offices across Nigeria over the recent election of a president-general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The group said the planned protest was to oppose the election of a former senator, John Azuta-Mbata, as the president-general of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
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On Friday, Mr Azuta-Mbata, an Ikwerre indigene from Rivers State, was elected. This sparked criticism from some of his kin, who argue that the Ikwerre people are not ethnically Igbo.
Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, the Director-General of the Rivers Restoration Movement, Johnson Georgewill, issued a seven-day ultimatum for Mr Azuta-Mbata to resign, warning of resistance from the Ikwerre people if the demand was not met.
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“We are outraged that the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara supported Azuta-Mbata’s election as Ohanaeze Ndigbo President-General purely for political reasons,” Mr 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.
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“Are the Ikwerre people Igbos to justify Azuta-Mbata representing them? The answer is a resounding no,” Mr Georgewill declared.
He noted that the Ikwerre people have consistently rejected claims of being Igbos since Yakubu Gowon’s military administration dissolved the former Eastern Nigeria.
Accusation against Fubara
Mr Georgewill accused Mr Fubara’s administration of trying to use ethnicity to destabilise the Ikwerre people for political gain, vowing that the group would resist such attempts.
“Former Governor Nyesom Wike, the political leader in Rivers, worked tirelessly to maintain a 50-year political alliance between the Ijaws and Ikwerre, which led to Fubara’s election.
“This move undermines that bond and humiliates Rivers people by attempting to enslave the Ikwerres,” he said.r Geogewill called on Governor Fubara to withdraw his congratulatory message to Mr 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 congratulated Mr Azuta-Mbata, the Nigeria police, the State Security Service, 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,” Mr Georgewill asserted.
He urged all true sons and daughters of Rivers to speak out against what he called an injustice.
The News Agency of Nigeria gathered that the rejection of Azuta-Mbata, an ally of Governor Fubara, may stem from the political disputes between the governor and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCT.
Sources suggested that the Wike’s camp views Azuta-Mbata’s election as a political strategy to weaken the minister’s influence among his Ikwerre kin.
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