An interest organization called the Rivers Restoration Movement (RRM) has declared its intention to hold nonviolent demonstrations in Abuja, Rivers, and at UN headquarters around Nigeria.
Opposition to Sen. John Azuta-Mbata’s election as President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the highest Igbo sociocultural organization, is the goal of the demonstration. Some of his relatives, who contend that the Ikwerre people are not ethnically Igbo, criticized the election of Azuta-Mbata, an Ikwerre native from Rivers, on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters in Port Harcourt on Monday, Johnson Georgewill, the director-general of RRM, gave Azuta-Mbata a seven-day notice period to step down or face opposition from the Ikwerre people.
“We are outraged that the administration of Gov. Siminalayi Fubara supported Azuta-Mbata’s election as Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General purely for political reasons,” Georgewill stated.
He emphasised that Ikwerres are not ethnically Igbos and questioned why such an important position was given to someone allegedly outside the Igbo ethnic group.
“The President-General’s primary duty is to represent the interests of all Igbo people within and outside of Nigeria.
“Are the Ikwerre people Igbos to justify Azuta-Mbata representing them? The answer is a resounding no,” Georgewill said.
He pointed out that since Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s government broke apart the former Eastern Nigeria, the Ikwerre people have continuously denied claims to be Igbo.
Georgewill vowed that the RRM will oppose any attempts by Fubara’s government to utilize ethnicity to destabilize the Ikwerre people for political ends.
“Former Governor Nyesom Wike, who is the political leader in Rivers worked tirelessly to maintain a 50-year political alliance between the Ijaws and Ikwerre’s, which led to Fubara’s election.
“This move undermines that bond and humiliates Rivers people by attempting to enslave the Ikwerres,” he said.
Geogewill urged the President-General to resign within seven days and encouraged Governor Fubara to take back his congrats to Azuta-Mbata.
Citing examples from the UK where the Welsh and Scots do not consider themselves English despite similarities, he rejected claims that Ikwerres are Igbos based on linguistic and cultural similarities.
The director-general also urged political leaders, the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Service (DSS), and President Bola Tinubu to step in. Tinubu also praised Azuta-Mbata.
“Our founding fathers such as Melford Okilo, Obi Wali, Chief Nwaobidike Wonodi, and other great Ikwerre leaders will be turning in their graves by this development.
“This injustice transcends party affiliation; it concerns the people of Rivers state and their independence within the Nigerian state” Georgewill asserted.
He called it an injustice and urged all Rivers’ true sons and daughters to speak out against it.
According to information obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the rejection of Mbata, a supporter of Fubara, might be related to the political disagreements between Wike and Fubara.
According to sources, Mbata’s election is seen by Wike’s supporters as a political move intended to reduce Wike’s clout among his Ikwerre relatives.