By our reorter| The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi on Wednesday denied reports over a controversial remark concerning the 2023 presidential election attributed to him by the apex Igbo cultural and political group, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo.
In a statement via his Chief Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem, Oluwo said it was evident Ohanaeze Ndigbo did not get his message right.
The royal father who denied the statement attributed to him that Igbo cannot produce Nigeria president, noted that he has Igbo in his blood.
He said, “The Igbo people are my own. I’ve Igbo in my blood. I’ve invested heavily on sustaining Nigeria’s unity and will continue doing so.”
According to the Oluwo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a respected body representing a sophisticated, intelligent, hardworking, cosmopolitan, industrious, and enlightened race.
“I’m one of the leading monarchs canvassing for a united Nigeria, equity and justice most especially for the Igbo tribe because I myself suffered marginalisation, he said.
“I’ve invested heavily on sustaining Nigeria’s unity and will continue doing so. I expected a swift eradication of the sit-home order by the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and The IPOB which I trust their cooperation with stakeholders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo can curb. I’ve reached out to respected monarchs from the East most especially the highly respected Obi of Onitsha and Igwe Agubuzuo of Enugu.”
“The demarcated restriction is a self inflicted punishment in a united state. No monarch feel the pain of the Igbos like I do. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo should read more about my activities before jumping on the media. My message is to their advantage should they see it as such.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo World Wide, had on Tuesday called out the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi over his controversial comment, and advised him (Akanbi) to learn from experienced traditional rulers in the country how to be civilised in conducting himself as a traditional ruler.
The National Publicity Secretary of the apex Igbo group, Alex Ogbonnia, gave the advise in Owerri while replying to the Oba, who said that the “Igbos cannot be trusted with power.”
According to the Apex Igbo group, “The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to a comment by the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi to the effect that the Igbo cannot be entrusted with the office of the Nigerian presidency.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor is a civilized cultural organization and by its prospectus, Ohanaeze has a profound respect for the culture and traditional rulers.
“We will therefore restrain from hoisting the monarch with his own petard, rather we advise that he should undergo some tutelage under some more experienced cosmopolitan urbane intelligent monarchs such as his neighbour, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Oni of Ife.
“This is because it is self-evident that Nigeria is a beleaguered country that urgently needs nation-building; inflammatory and incendiary remarks from monarchs and the highly placed are antithetical to peace and unity of Nigeria. One of the qualities of a well-adjusted traditional ruler is to be open-minded towards all, especially people of other ethnic groups that may be found in his domain.
“One of the reasons the traditional rulers are insulated from partisan politics is to avoid an overdrive or the kind of overzealousness exhibited by Oba Akanbi to retire a gift from his candidate for the presidency in 2023. In promoting his preferred candidate, he has committed a fallacy of hasty generalization when he stated that “the style by south easterners is barbaric’; the Igbo cannot be trusted with power, etc. Surely, such prejudice, innuendo, and vitriolic group vilifications against the entire Igbo nation is most unreflective of a royal father whose primary duty is to sow seeds of unity in his kingdom and beyond.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Igbo are adventurous nation builders; they are found in all parts of Nigeria and beyond. They make friends easily and also feel at home with their children in all parts of the world. Records across the world indicate that the Igbo are branded in Midas touch.”
“They quickly learn the language and culture of the host community with a view to contribute-economic growth of the community. The people of other ethnic groups that had their National Service in Igbo Land can always attest to the Igbo friendliness and hospitality during their service years; some ended up marrying Igbo,” Ohanaeze had said.
Leave a Reply