Ohanaeze fumes over anti-Igbo sentiment by ex-Buhari aide

By TUKUR MUNTARI, and RAPHAEL EDE

THE apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has dismissed as childish a statement credited to a former Special Assistant to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on Assembly Matters, Abdurrahman Sumaila.

The former Presidential aide had in a statement in Kano, on Thursday claimed that, “no right-thinking Nigerian will support an Igbo presidential candidate in 2023.”

Spokesman for Ohanaeze, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, said, “Ohanaeze will not take issues with the ex-presidential aide, describing his outburst as ‘childish.’

Sumaila, had in the statement said, “With the atrocities committed by South-East people on the record, how can Nigerians entrust them to govern them?

“I am sure not a single right-thinking Nigerian will endanger his life to support the candidature of any South-East  politician contesting for presidency come 2023 general elections.”

He claimed that those behind the attack on public infrastructure in the South-East were determined to drag the nation into anarchy.

Sumaila further said, “The perpetrators of the attacks must understand that if the country is becoming chaotic, then nobody, including the perpetrators, can escape.

“The elite in the South-East  should borrow a leaf from their northern counterparts such as Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern Elders Forum, who have been persistently condemning the activities of Boko Haram fighters and bandits in the North.

“You must clear your names or else, Nigerians will consider you culprits of all the killings and destruction in some Southern states.” (Text excluding headline from The PUNCH)