The youth arm of socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has questioned the identity of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
Okowa is the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming 2023 general election and a member of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo World.
However, his being from the South-South region of the country, as against the clamour for a South-East presidency, has raised eyebrows, with criticisms trailing the fact that neither the PDP nor the All Progressives Congress (APC) adopted the ideology of an Igbo candidate despite endless clamour.
The youths arm of the popular Igbo group berated Okowa’s lack of commitment to Ohanaeze over the years in a release by its national president, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka on Tuesday.
According to him, “Gov Ifeanyi Okowa had over the years exhibited a high level of complacency towards the activities of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, hence his invisibility in the activities of the Igbo race.
“Ndigbo, since after the 1966 to 1970 genocide, have gone through political and economic strangulation, but were able to unify again through Ohanaeze Ndigbo.”
Igboayaka said since his emergence as PDP’s vice-presidential candidate, Okowa had suddenly begun to define himself as Igbo.
Igboayaka regretted that Ala-Igbo Sustainable Development Project, powered by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, ‘had gone into extinction while we have the likes of Gov Ifeanyi Okowa and other unpatriotic Igbo governors from South East’.
Quoting him, “Gov Ifeanyi Okowa found it more vital to fund Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign than to support numerous projects going on at Ohanaeze Ndigbo secretariat.
“It’s pathetic that Gov Ifeanyi Okowa, who abandoned Ohanaeze Ndigbo for seven years with over N200m unpaid monthly dues, is seeking the support of his Igbo tribe to win the 2023 presidential election.
I challenge Gov Ifeanyichukwu Okowa to provide evidence of his Ohanaeze Ndigbo statutory monthly dues to the general public, or any project he has sited in Ohanaeze Ndigbo secretariat since he became senator and governor.
“It’s a common saying that ‘Charity Begins at Home’, but Gov Ifeanyi Okowa has failed in this area. He never imbibed the concept of ‘Onye Aghala Nwanne Ya’ (be your brother’s keeper).”
He reminded Gov Ifeanyi Okowa that being an Igbo man should not only be when ‘you need Ndigbo, but when Ndigbo need you’.
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