Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The Minister of Works, Chief Dave Umahi, and a Nollywood actor, Kenneth Okonkwo, have come under fire over their “defeatist and sycophantic” utterances that undermine the quest of Ndigbo to end their perceived political marginalisation.

Umahi, who has been canvassing support for President Bola Tinubu’s second tenure, had reportedly claimed that the president has been very fair to the South-east zone, and so Ndigbo should not vie for the presidency in 2027.

On his part, Okonkwo, an actor-turned politician, claimed that only a candidate from the North can unseat Tinubu in 2027, thereby dismissing the presidential aspirations of opposition candidates from other zones.

But a women’s’s group, the Igbo Women Assembly (IWA), expressed its aversion to the statements credited to the two politicians, who are both from the Southeast, describing the utterances as “narrow-minded and suspicious.”

In a statement signed by its National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, IWA chided both Umahi and Okonkwo for indulging in “empty defeatist rhetoric” to protect their interests against the interestss of Ndigbo.

She noted that since his appointment into Tinubu’s cabinet, Umahi has been manifesting “signs of slave mentality and invasive sycophantic malady” in his intentional mission to undermine the collective aspiration of Ndigbo.

The IWA leader challenged the Works Minister “to publish what President Tinubu has done specially for the Southeast to confirm the imaginary special love he has for Ndigbo.”

According to Lolo Chimezie, Tinubu has remained faithful to his promise at inauguration that “I will continue from where Buhari stopped,” hence the president has not shown any marked deviation from Buhari’s perpetuation of Igbo marginalisation in political appointments.

She said, “May we remind Umahi that Tinubu has not shown that he is different from Buhari in sidelining Ndigbo from political appointments. Is Umahi not aware that two out of five ministers from Southeast in Tinubu’s cabinet are junior ministers at a time one state in Southwest has three ministers.

“In as much as the marginalisation and political exclusion of Ndigbo did not begin with President Tinubu, he hasn’t done anything either to suggest he wants to stop or change the narrative.”

Chimezie further challenged the former Ebonyi State governor to back his claims with facts by publishing the names of people from South-east zone appointed as heads of federal agencies and parastatals by Tinubu “for us to know he has been fair to us more than other zones.”

She argued that if Tinubu “so much loves Ndigbo as Umahi claims, why is our son, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, still in detention over two years he came to power” despite passionate appeals for his release?

The IWA national president stated that the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) cannot be counted as a special favour and “sign that Tinubu truly loves Ndigbo as Umahi claims.

“We hope Umahi is aware that every geopolitical zone now has regional development commission,” she said, adding that “if President Tinubu truly loves Ndigbo the way Umahi claims, why is Enugu-Aba rail track still inactive?”

The group advised Umahi and “other Igbo sycophantic and self-centred politicians” to learn fast from their counterparts from other zones “who know how to place regional interests above personal gains.”

Turning to Okonkwo, the Igbo women group expressed disappointment that the former Labour Party spokesman during the 2023 general election is now dangerously hurting his reputation through “unguarded and suspicious political rhetoric.”

They cautioned him against allowing “political sentiments set him against the people” given that Okonkwo’s “passion for Igbo cause had earned him respect among Ndigbo, especially Igbo women and youths.”

IWA advised Igbo political elites “to stop their direct and indirect attacks on Peter Obi who many Nigerians believe has the competence, readiness and capacity to take the country out of the woods.

“We don’t know why Igbo political elite cannot join the rest of Nigerians in supporting one of their own who the rest of the country seems to be rooting for today.

“The suffering masses of Nigeria irrespective of their tribe and religion believe in taking back their country, and they will disappoint Umahi and his likes.”

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