Bayelsa 2019: Ohaneze Ndigbo bickers over endorsement of candidates
A fresh crisis has erupted among the factional leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo youth wing in Bayelsa state over the endorsement of candidates in the forthcoming November 16, governorship election.
The group under the leadership of Chief Chinedu Ugwa has discredited Chief Chinedu Amaku, the self-acclaimed Ohaneze Ndigbo president, whom it said has been endorsing candidates of political parties without the interest of the union.
In a statement made available in Yenagoa, the group maintained that the Department of State Services (DSS) has advised that the two factional presidents of the association in the person of Chinedu Amaku and Mark Nlem should step aside and wondered why Chief Chinedu Amaku should be parading himself as the president of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
The statement reads in part: “In this state, whatever support Amaku is getting from anywhere, we don’t want to know, but we know that for now, the matter is in court. He should not be parading himself as the president of Ohaneze Ndigbo and nobody should be giving him any support.
“The politicians are recognizing somebody that is not duly recognized by the national leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo. If they recognize him, let them also know whether it is okay by them because you must obey the national leadership first as a law-abiding citizen.
“Ohaneze Ndigbo is a socio -cultural organization and we have it everywhere in the world not because of politics, but for our social life styles and our welfare. It is not a political group. It is only in Bayelsa that we have seen people dragging the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo, fighting for politics without fighting for the well-being of Ndigbo.
“As this election comes, we will not support anybody that cannot keep to his/her promise. We will make sure that we consult even to the grassroots and make sure that we are going to sign a document that every market union like Igbo traders, community leaders, political movement with Prince Williams Eze as the coordinator and Chinedu Arthur Ugwa, the spokesperson among other groups so that all will be part of the endorsement.
“If we are endorsing anybody, that endorsement will encompass everybody and not an endorsement by a few people. Any endorsement without all the leaders of various groups in state is a fake endorsement.”
