Victor EzejaRepresentatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops on peace and conflict resolution have urged individuals and groups who feel aggrieved to accept the outcome of the January 10 2021 election of Ohanaeze Ndigbo national executives.
Crisis had engulfed the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation during the election that led to emergence of Prof. George Obiozor as President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Some aggrieved groups and persons instituted legal actions in court to either nullify the election or declare their candidates as validly elected.
In a document titled “Report of the Representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops on Peace and Conflict Resolution on Ohanaeze Ndigbo crisis,” signed and dated 14 January 2022, and made available to Prime Business Africa, the clergymen appealed to aggrieved groups and persons who had filed suits to make sacrifice by withdrawing them and embrace peace just to maintain harmony in the organisation.
The group said it waded into the matter because it considered it imperative that peace and unity should return to the organisation, given the prevalent challenges the Igbos are facing in today’s Nigeria.
Part of the report reads: “The attention of the representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops was drawn to the crisis within the Ohanaeze Ndigbo arising from 10 January 2021 elections.
“The representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops felt that it would be absurd for the ecclesiastical fathers to be silent while disunity and crisis destroy the Pan Igbo socio-cultural group.
“The ecclesiastical fathers therefore considered it imperative that peace and unity returned to the apex socio-cultural organisation of Ndigbo, given the prevalent challenges facing the Igbos in today’s Nigeria.”
The ecclesiastical group, which harped on its neutrality and freedom from external influence on issues concerning the election, said its terms of reference were to identify and remind feuding parties, their sponsors and associates of their primary responsibility to preserve and enhance the integrity and global positive perception of Ndigbo; ask the parties to commit to a resolution of the impasse based on the Ohanaeze constitution and where possible, obtain their affirmation to that effect; and to ensure that peace, unity and harmony returned to the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
In addressing the crisis in the Ohanaeze, the representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops group said it met both physically and through zoom and examined various documents and memos tendered by all concerned and aggrieved groups including Ohanaeze Ndigbo constitution, and extracts of court summons, and also had dialogue with key stakeholders representing various factions who made commitment to peaceful resolution of the crisis.
The group said that from the interactions it had with the groups regarding the crisis, it found that challenges within the immediate past executives of Ohanaeze Ndigbo which culminated in removal of the then Secretary general raised some constitutional questions which should have been addressed.
“Because these constitutional questions were left unanswered, the situation invariably snowballed into a crisis that cast dark shadows over the 10 January 2021 elections with the unsalutary fallout of the emergence of two parallel bodies, each claiming to have elected the new executive of Ohanaeze, and yet a third group of persons who claimed that they were disenfranchised and deprived of the opportunity to contest the elections,” the clergymen stated.
It further noted that it found that because of the difficulty in funding Ohanaeze, some political office holders, especially the State Governors intervened which “unfortunately created room for their overbearing influence on the electoral process.”
The group therefore recommended that ” All contending parties with court cases should withdraw such in line with our various appeals and their positive affirmations to act in consonance.
“In order to avoid further disorientation among Ndigbo in these difficult and challenging times, the result of the 10 January 2021 elections should be largely upheld.
“Nevertheless, to adopt a national leadership of unity and stabilization, it would be necessary to draw one person from each of the aggrieved parties for integration into the Obiozor-led executive.”
The group explained that the recommendations were based on the understanding that sacrifice is a prerequisite for peace and conflict resolution, adding that it would require the parities to have a disposition of “give and take” in order to restore unity, harmony and progress in the Igbo socio-cultural organisation.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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