•Iwuanyanwu
MAGNUS EZE, Enugu reporting
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has raised the alarm that some people want him dead at all costs.
The Igbo leader who disclosed that he has been receiving threat calls and messages, alleged that one of the callers told him that they were recruited to burn his house, reports Daily Sun.
Addressing newsmen at the National Secretariat of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu, yesterday, after the group’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, Iwuanyanwu condemned the trend of attacking and vilifying anybody that came to serve Ndigbo as President General.
He expressed that certain persons were purveying campaign of calumny against him and the Ohanaeze National Executive Committee members, particularly the recent devilish concoction of plans for Ndigbo to apologize to the Fulani over the killing of Ahmadu Bello in the January 1966 coup.
He said the 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup, but entirely a military affair.
Iwuanyanwu categorically blamed Okechukwu Isiguzoro and his cohorts for all the damaging things published against Ohanaeze and Ndigbo.
“I am addressing Igbo people all over the world, that if this kind of thing is not nipped in the bud, it is going to be very disastrous. This thing didn’t start today, Joe Irukwu, Ralph Uwaechie were all maligned. As they went after Nwodo, they bombed his house.
“Those of us who were close to Obiozor, you know he was a very nice diplomat. It’s this kind of thing that killed him. He’s not like people like us, I served in the army, I have thick skin.
“These people have carried this too far. Sometime ago, I got some information that some people are coming to burn my house. That people said they were hired to come and burn my house. Some people also said they were hired to come and kill me. All sorts of stories like that. And I started asking myself: what is it that I have done that would warrant that my house should be burnt; that I should be killed?
“I told those people that they shouldn’t worry. Fortunately, one of them said that the person they hired said that I trained his brother in the university. You know I had a scholarship scheme that trained over 5000 young people in the university. So, he said his brother was trained by me and so he cannot burn my house.
“I feel sad that I should be confronted by some of these types of spectre of threats just because I want to serve my people.
“I have looked at my past career and see how God blessed me. At 82 when I’ve retired, for me now to come back to serve my people and to find myself completely engulfed in this type of mess with Isiguzoro.
“I’m somebody who is dogged and can’t easily be pushed around. God has given me the heart and determination to serve my people.”
Iwuanyanwu said that the people causing the unnecessary tension and demarketing Ohanaeze were enemies of Igbo.
“NEC believes that these people are not working alone. So, we have agreed to work with CAN, the bishops, we are going to seek the face of God. These things are too much.
“Our NEC has met, we are going to investigate this matter. These people bombed Nwodo’s house; they burnt Obiozor’s house and from there, he died. Those behind these are enemies of Igboland.
“Today, the NEC has given me power and I am going to invoke my powers as the President General and leader of the Igbo. I am going to send their names to the Ime Obi. The Igbo have traditional ways of punishing errant ones. So, they will be disciplined and sanctioned according to Igbo customs and tradition.”
