*PRESS STATEMENT*

Our attention has been drawn to the comments made by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the Chairman, Council of Elders of Ohaneze Ndigbo in a video clip that has gone viral. Chief Iwuanyanwu made these comments on Saturday, March 25th at a ceremony in Anambra State where he was a special guest of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s one-year commemoration in office.

In the video, Chief Iwuanyanwu said, “I want our people in Lagos to know that on Wednesday, I called a meeting of the Ohaneze Council of Elders worldwide and we x-rayed the events in Lagos…We have resolved that never, never again can we allow anybody to take the life of an innocent Igbo person. All of us are going to fight the person. Never again. We are going to fight the person.”

“We are in Nigeria. And we have invested in Nigeria. Our investments are so much. We are not going to take the pressure of people telling us to go. We are not going anywhere. And I want to tell those in Lagos to realize that there’s no war between us and Yorubas. Yorubas are just political rascals. And we’re going to handle them.”

Although it is tempting to go toe-to-toe with Chief Iwuanyawu in what we believe was a deliberately made provocative, irresponsible, and condescending statement in our response, which would also have disparaged the entire Igbo people. But we won’t.

We would have blamed Chief Iwuanyanwu’s outburst on some cheap whiskey taken at the event where he made this negative, utterly annoying remarks. Or perhaps his morbidly obese body constitution could be the culprit as this might be affecting his capacity to think clearly and speak intelligently. But we wager that what happened at the Soludo event was another one of those predetermined, calculated attempts to draw the ire of the Yoruba people in order to create an unstable sociopolitical atmosphere in the polity to achieve their pathological fixation for an Interim government. We’re too discerning to fall for that bait.

The invective of Chief Iwuanyanwu, and by extension, his Ohaneze Ndigbo clan against a people whose only sin is the fact that they are too loving and accommodating for their liking (because they lack these virtues) should be seen within the context of someone having a withdrawal symptom after working himself into a frenzy for so long that his candidate would win the recently concluded presidential election without any empirical and intelligent political permutations to justify his delusion.

We should therefore brace ourselves for more of this senseless and idiotic vituperation as the inauguration of President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu draws closer.

We urge our people to resist any attempt to be provoked because their overarching game plan is to create a crisis atmosphere so that our democracy can be truncated. They know that their court case is wooly at best. Let us continue to take the insults and abuses from the likes of Chief Iwuanyanwu and his Igbo travelers while Asiwaju and his team concentrate on an inauguration that will usher in a new dawn of unprecedented accomplishments across the country as he did in Lagos, which gave them the platform for their much-touted and overdramatized investments, towards a more perfect nation.

*FEMI ODERE*

_Spokesperson_

Tinubu/Southwest Media Veterans Support Group

Sunday, March 26, 2023

PRESS STATEMENT

25TH MARCH, 2023

DELTA PDP CONGRATULATES DR. UDUAGHAN ON AWARD OF DOCTORATE (HONORIS CAUSA) FROM UNN

Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has warmly felicitated His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, former Governor of Delta State, on the award of the prestigious Doctor of Public Administration (Honoris Causa) by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

The salutation was contained in a congratulatory message issued by the State PDP Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, which reads: “Your Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, Delta State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP heartily congratulates you on the conferment of the Doctor of Public Administration (Honoris Causa) award, by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

“We are indeed not surprised that the famous University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, has found in you, a worthy recipient of this prestigious award, long after you left office and honorably side-stepped out of the national spotlight, with admirable decorum, dignity, and equanimity.

Your leadership track record as a two-term PDP Governor, hallmarked by your exceptional disposition towards peacebuilding as the core substructure for a development-driven society, which indeed was one of the cardinal elements of your visionary Three Point Agenda, complemented by the other components of Infrastructure and Human Capital Development, speaks volumes for the sustainable peace Delta State enjoyed, during your tenure and the collective unity and harmony amongst many members of our party, in the run-up to the 2023 general elections.

We also recall with great pride, the brilliant maiden paper you delivered during the annual lecture series graciously endowed in your name, for the Professor B.I.C Ijomah Centre for Policy Studies and Research, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in 2019, which still resonates with great import, clarity, and relevance in our national polity, four years after.

Congratulations once again, Your Excellency, on this well-deserved recognition by one of the leading tertiary institutions of learning in our country. We have no doubts whatsoever that this award, the precursor of many to come, will greatly energize your impressive efforts and advocacy in the pursuit of sustainable peace in our society.

We are indeed proud and humbled, to embrace you as one of our very own; leader, mentor, and elder statesman, in the PDP Family.

God Bless You, Sir.

Dr. Ifeanyi M. Osuoza,

State Publicity Secretary,

PDP, Delta State.

Ebireri Henry Ovie Mobile: 2348036977194.

PRESS RELEASE 

SANWO-OLU MOURNS EX-CGS, OLADIPO DIYA

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has mourned the passage of former Chief of General Staff, Lt.-General Oladipo Diya.

Sanwo-Olu described the death of Diya, a former Chief of Defence Staff and ex-Military Governor of Ogun State, as a great loss to the country.

Governor Sanwo-Olu in a condolence message issued on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described the late Diya, as a gallant soldier and elder statesman, who served the country meritoriously as a military officer, Governor of Ogun State and Chief of General Staff.

Governor Sanwo-Olu also commiserated with Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, and the entire people of the State, especially indigenes of Odogbolu, on the demise of their illustrious son.

He said: “On behalf of the Government and people of Lagos State, I want to express my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, the Nigerian Army and associates of the late Lt.-General Oladipo Diya, over the death of the former Chief of General Staff and Vice Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council.

“I also commiserate with my brother, Governor Dapo Abiodun, the people of Odogbolu town and Ogun State over the death of their former governor and illustrious son. I pray that God will give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

“The death of Lt.-General Oladipo Diya is a colossal loss to the country. He made lots of positive impact and contribution during his lifetime to the growth and development of Nigeria, especially in the Nigeria Army.

“He fought, along with several other patriots tirelessly for a united Nigeria during his days in the Nigerian Army, especially during the Civil War. He also held positions in the Armed Forces and rose to the position of the Chief of General Staff, (de facto Vice President of Nigeria) under the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

“I pray that God will grant him eternal rest and give his immediate family, friends, associates and the people of Ogun State, the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

SIGNED

GBOYEGA AKOSILE

CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

26 MARCH 2023