The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing on Sunday threatened to label the All Progressives Congress an ‘anti-Igbo political party’ if it fails to apologise to a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (retd), within 48 hours.
The threat, which the group issued in a statement jointly signed by its National Secretary, Emmanuel Nnabuike, and Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe, came on the heels of APC’s call for the prosecution of Ihejirika at the ICC over alleged sponsorship of the Boko Haram sect.
An Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, had fingered Ihejirika and former Borno State governor, Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff, as sponsors of terrorism in the country. Both men have separately denied the allegation.
In the statement titled, “Ongoing Attempts to Brand Gen. Ihejirika a Boko Haram Sponsor”, the Ohanaeze youths described Davies’ claims as “spurious”.
The group expressed regrets that the APC did not bother to ascertain the veracity of the Australian’s allegations before calling for Ihejirika’s prosecution.
Ohanaeze youths noted that Ihejirika deserved an apology from the APC since the Department of State Security had absolved him of complicity in the sponsorship of the Boko Haram sect
“It is on record that the same people trying to frame up Gen. Ihejirika are the same people who claimed they would make Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan in the aftermath of the 2011 presidential election.
“We view the call for Ihejirika’s trial by the All Progressives Congress through its spokesman-Alhaji Lai Mohammed, without bothering to confirm the authenticity of the statement, as malicious and premeditated.
“Now that the Department of State Security has officially absolved Ihejirika of any complicity in the matter, we ask the APC to issue an apology to Gen. Ihejirika and Ndigbo within 48 hours.
“If they fail to do so, the APC shall be formally labeled an anti-Igbo party and other sanctions shall follow”, Ohanaeze youths said.
Continuing, the group described Davis as a mercenary.
“Security is too weighty a matter to be politicized. Therefore it is unpatriotic for political leaders to embark on character assassination based on unsubstantiated and misguided rumours.
“Dr Stephen Davis has shown himself to be a mercenary, whose stock in trade is the distortion of information in order to cause chaos, thereby creating more business for him”, the group said.
Ohanaeze youth wing added that Davis employed “cheap propaganda tactics” by naming Ihejirika alongside Mr. Sheriff, who had been linked with the emergence and sponsorship of Boko Haram as the sect’s sponsor in order to lend credence to his claims in the eyes of “gullible members of the public”.
The group further pointed out that Davis did not provide a single shred of evidence or motivation for Ihejirika, a Christian and an Igbo from the South-East, to sponsor Boko Haram.
Faulting the Australian’s claims that an unnamed high ranking Central Bank of Nigeria official, who handled the funding of Boko Haram was an uncle to three of the Nyanya bombing suspects, the group said “He was equally disproved by the DSS thereby showing his story to be faulty.
“It is uncharitable for Nigerians to reward someone who laid down his life in the defence of his country by associating him with the sponsorship of the sect”, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing said.