Show of shame in Ohanaeze Lagos as Secretary proclaims himself Acting President
…Chief Sunday Ossai dismisses claim
By Cyriacus Nnaji
It is now obvious that many people are hungry to lead Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State Chapter. These people have vowed to throw caution to the wind by constituting themselves as opposition to constitutionally elected administration.
From findings, this group of people even though they are members of the executive that supposed to work in consonance with the programmes and projects of the incumbent president have themselves become clog in the wheel of progress.
The latest act of coup which has never happened in the annals of Ohanaeze worldwide was when Robert Obasi the Secretary of Ohanaeze Lagos State Chapter declared himself as the President and was supported by a few executive members. They did not stop there, they claimed to have suspended the duly elected President, Chief Sunday Ossai and went ahead to expunge his name from their executive members’ Platform.
All this was done even as majority of the executive members disagreed with the motion for the suspension of the duly elected president. The group led by the secretary did not stop there, they rushed to some paid online media houses and began to circulate falsehood to give credence to their disproportionate and inordinate ambition.
From findings the antagonisms and rivalry in the Ohanaeze Lagos began since some of those fighting Chief Ossai were beaten mercilessly during the election that brought Ossai and they vowed to make his administration ungovernable.
The question on the lips of not a few bewildered Igbo people in Lagos is what was Ossai’s offense? Nothing other than he granted a press interview without all the executive members taking part, and one asks, in what part of the planet does the president needs to take permission from other executive members before he grants interview or participate in a press conference where he is supposed to represent the interest of Ohanaeze? All he needed was to do so in the best interest of his people.
According to Chief Ossai, while narrating the immediate cause of his suspension, said “We had an executive meeting, after minutes of the meeting was read, we began with treatment of the meeting’s agenda, the first agenda was the letter from the Football Tournament Initiators, after the letter I asked if anybody has anything to say about the letter, suggestions and opinions. Then one man called Leonard Nwogidi stood up without permission or addressing the meeting and said I should be suspended, that I attended a press Conference on football tournament without the knowledge of the executive, that I have given consent to the football tournament without carrying them along, that based on this that I have violated the constitution of Ohanaeze and I should step aside.”
He said at this juncture when majority kicked against the suspension, the Secretary, Robert Obasi, stood up and declared himself as the Acting President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Speaking to Journalists, Chief Ossai maintains that the clamour for his suspension based on the fact that he granted press interview is not only childish, malicious, baseless and lack of the knowledge, responsibilities and workings of the office of the President of Ohanaeze anywhere, adding that those who are fighting him came to Ohanaeze thinking that there was millions to be shared and when there was none they now want to destroy all that Ohanaeze stands for.
He advised those who wants to be president to exercise a little more patience till the end of his tenure so that they can contest under the constitutionally provided environment of the noble organization in Lagos State.
Ossai maintained that even if he made a mistake in carrying out his duty for Ohanaeze, there are spelt out constitutional procedures for impeachment of Ohanaeze President and cannot be done unilaterally.
Chief Ossai called on the President General of Ohanaeze to ignore the people he called the shenanigans and focus on the way forward for Ndigbo worldwide, adding that these enemies of progress will have to contend with ancestors of Ohanaeze Ndigbo “They have to contend with the ancestors of Ndigbo. Now Robert Obasi and his group have once again burgled our plan to fix date and templates for women’s and youth’s elections which we promised to conduct as soon as possible at the last General Assembly meeting.”
He accused Obasi of writing about two complaints letters to the Secretary Genaral og Ohanaeze just to instigate his removal by Enugu.
From a reliable source, it was also alleged that a former secretary of Ohanaeze Lagos State who was roundly beaten in the last election is working behind the scene to take over from Chief Sunday Ossai if the coup succeeds.
Our source revealed that the following members of his executive have continued to run the president down at any given opportunity, they include the Secretary, the Publicity Secretary, the Financial Secretary, and the Assistant Financial Secretary.
Our sources also called on the President General of Ohanaeze, the Secretary General and all well-meaning Ndigbo globally to condemn in strong terms this dastardly unconstitutional act, and to also ensure that the perpetrators of this sacrilegious act are brought to book to serve as deterrent to other erring power hungry leaders who want to throw the good name of Ohaneaze to the mud. They said that the era of using money to buy power has gone and gone forever in Ohanaeze Lagos. “We are at home with Chief Sunday Ossai, we like his humility, experience, his developmental agenda especially for the youths. Those looking for his position should wait till it is their turn.”
They said those who are in the corridors of power of Ohanaeze themselves want to be the head at all cost; they have consistently shown impatience, lack of capacity, they have shown selfishness and intolerance.
It is also obvious that those who are opposed to the administration of Chief Ossai are fighting tooth and nail so see his downfall, hence when the issue of football tournament which was designed to keep the youths engaged and a source of revenue for the organization, the opponents threw their spanner in the wheel of progress.
Many Igbo people interviewed on the matter have condemned the act and are calling on well-meaning Igbos to intervene as some of these rivals are parading themselves and glorying in their so called wealth. They throw away integrity, experience, good name but prefer unruliness, and the principles upon which Ohanaeze as a socio-cultural organization was established.
One is compelled to ask if the cacophony and hullabaloo in Lagos State Ohanaeze will ever cease one day so that the good people of Ndigbo in Lagos will have a breath of fresh air so that the organization will be able to carry out its statutory role as a protective umbrella for Igbos in Lagos.
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The people are tied of one week one trouble, the people said that the Ossai led administration’s well thought out project, the football tournament for all the youths of Igbo origin residing in Lagos should be allowed to succeed to make the youths happy, enhance their sporting career and from there generate funds for Ohanaeze in Lagos. The opposition should stop their campaign of calumny and join a winning team to carry out laudable projects rather than trying to tarnish the good image of a duly elected President.
