A motion to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as the consensus candidate of the Igbos for the presidential election failed at the Ime-Obi (inner caucus) meeting of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Saturday in Enugu.
Although, the adoption of Jonathan as the consensus candidate of the Igbos was not on the agenda of the meeting, which held at the organisation’s secretariat in Enugu, midway into the meeting, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, moved the motion, urging Ohanaeze to adopt Jonathan for the election.
Iwuanyanwu informed the Ime-Obi that he came with a message from ‘90 per cent of Igbos’ who were supporting Jonathan’s election for a second term.
He asked the meeting to give him an answer so that he could report back to those who sent him.
The motion caused an uproar, forcing the President General, Chief Gary Igariwey, to adjourn the meeting, which ended abruptly with a shouting match between those against, and those in support of the failed motion to adopt Jonathan as the consensus candidate.
Following the failure of the motion, Iwuanyanwu walked out of the meeting.
Earlier, some members of the Ime-Obi had kicked against an attempt to extend the tenure of the organisation’s national executive committee by four years from the statutory two-year tenure in office.
A representative of Ndigbo in Diaspora, Mr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, had told the meeting that the constitution was amended under the previous administration, extending the tenure to four years.
Anakwenze alleged that those who were challenging the tenure of the executive were being used to cause trouble in Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The comment apparently irked a former national chairman of the defunct Justice Party, Ralph Obiorah, who immediately walked out of the meeting.
In an encounter with journalists, Obioha maintained that the tenure of the executive had long elapsed, saying it was obvious that some people came to the meeting with a predetermined agenda.
A communiqué released after the meeting however stated that the tenure of the executive was four years.
The communiqué also explained that the motion for the adoption of a presidential candidate was kept in abeyance, until further notice, as the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was still consulting.
via nigerianeye
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