The visit of Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State, to the All Progressives Congress Vice Presidential presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima has sparked outrage among members of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, IECF and the Ohaneze, both of where he is a prominent member. He chairs the former.
Though the visit was, as he said in a statement released by his Media Office, with no strings or political affiliation attached, but it has thrown the IECF into confusion. Members who have been champions of a President of Igbo extraction, and are supportive of the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, are divided .
The division was fuelled by the cancellation of two Press Conferences earlier scheduled for 1 pm on Tuesday, June 14 and Friday, June 24 2022 at Ezeife’s residence in Asokoro at the last minute. No explanation was given.
Since that time, the IECF had maintained a deafening silence, thereby fuelling more speculation that its membership has been infiltrated.
The peculation is that it could be a plot by the APC to destabilize the Igbo as the 2023 Presidential election draws closer.
A source within the IECF disclosed that: “I’m not sure I know what is going on among Igbo Elders. The only thing is that after those two aborted Press Conferences and even meetings, we decided to concentrate elsewhere and watch. There are people who came to hijack the place for the purpose of making money.
“We don’t know whether they’re being sponsored by the APC. We think he (Ezeife) was told that it wasn’t good. At that time, Igbo Elders were very vocal and they tried to divide us. We didn’t allow that to bother us because we know where we were going and doing underground work.
“But I think we have come back to our senses, we have come back from our madness. Those people actually failed, they collapsed. The APC wanted to neutralise us, but that one is now over.”
Following the division, and with speculation rife that this could affect the ambition of Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi’s ambition, the Spokesperson of Peter Obi Support Network, Onwuasoanya Jones, said Obi’s movement is a National agenda.
According to him, Ezeife is an Elder Statesman and can decide to visit whoever he wishes to visit.
He said, “Obi’s Presidential project is not an Igbo agenda. His is a Nigerian project and we accede to the rights of every Nigerian to decide whom to support and whom to vote for. We believe that if competence, character and credibility are the deciding factors, Obi towers well above every other candidate in this race
“Ezeife is an Elder Statesman and former Governor. We cannot decide for him whom to visit or not. It is absolutely within his right to visit Shettima or any other person for that matter.”
Not a few people, however, see it as a betrayal. Asked one Igbo Elder: “Why has Ezeife not visited Shettima until he became a Presidential Candidate? Ezeife Chairs the Elders Forum, he knows our stand. What he did is morally wrong. It smacks of betrayal, betrayal of the course.”
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