Following backlash and condemnations, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has explained that Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu never called Yoruba political rascals.
The socio-cultural group described the report of Iwuanyawu’s derogatory statement as false.
In a press statement issued on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, in Enugu, Ohanaeze said the report is “a typical falsehood, fabricated by social media entrepreneurs, decorated with wings, expanded with venom, injected with ethnic nuances to create inter-ethnic mistrust between the age-long partners in social, cultural, religious and economic development of Nigeria.”
Ogbonnia said: “Our attention has been drawn to the fake news making the rounds that the Chairman, Council of Elders, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, referred to the Yoruba as political rascals.
He said Iwuanyanwu never made such a comment while speaking in Awka, Anambra State, on Saturday during an event to mark the one year in office of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State.
Ogbonnia said Iwuanyanwu only drew the attention of the audience and the public to the fact that Ndigbo and Yoruba people were neither quarreling nor fighting, implying that the Yoruba were a friendly group of people.
He said Iwuanyanwu only said, ‘I want to tell those in Lagos to realise that there is no war between us and the Yoruba”, adding that ‘those who attacked Ndigbo in Lagos recently are rascals, who should be arrested’.
“This has mischievously been twisted to imply that ‘Yoruba people are political rascals and that we will fight them’. This is ‘quel dommage’ from the insidious minds of those who wish to create a rift between the Igbo and the Yoruba.
“At no time in history, there is often a tug of war between two major groups; mostly the good people with conscience on one hand and the devious insidious minds on the other.”
“So, as much as some mischief makers will twist the speech by Iwuanyanwu, the truth remains that he holds the Yoruba in a very high esteem and he used the Awka event to express it,” Ogbonnia said.
He added that emphasis was that “we must not attribute the ugly event in Lagos to the good people of Yoruba ethnic, rather, it was the handiwork of rascals, hooligans, spivs, charlatans, miscreants and dregs of Lagos society.
“It is important to highlight that Chief Iwuanyanwu is a renowned patriotic detribalised Nigerian, who enjoyed the fidelity, confidence, solidarity, support of the Yoruba when he was in active business and politics.
“Iwuanyanwu in all his private and public discussions has often commended the profound Yoruba cultural values, intellect and hospitality.
“He applauds the cordial relationship between the Igbo and the Yoruba, citing that several Igbo are integral parts of various Yoruba communities.”
He maintained that there had been successful marriages of Yoruba daughters by frontline Igbo sons, citing Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien; Prof. Vincent Ike, Prof. Okey Ndibe and others.
Ogbonnia exemplified the irreproachable similarity in the Igbo-Yoruba cultural values and cosmology.
“Evidently, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) enjoyed the support of eminent Igbo sons and daughters.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will resist any attempt to paint the 2023 presidential election with an ethnic tar,” he added.
