-Pro-Jonathan Camp Sacks IDA Chairman
The crisis rocking the leadership of Igbo communities in the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], Abuja, took a new dimension last Thursday when the faction supporting the re-election ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, purportedly sacked the President of the Igbo Delegates Assembly[IDA], D. S. Inyama, who they accused of routing for the Presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress[APC], Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
It could be recalled that Chief Inyanma, in company of other leading members of IDA as well as Igbo traditional rulers known as Eze Udos, from various states in the North, had endorsed Buhari for the Presidency, an action those on the side of President Jonathan frowned at.
At a meeting which held at the Top View Hotel, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, on Wednesday night, the group took a decision removing Inyanma and replacing him with Chief Larry Nwosu.
In a communiqué which was read to the press on Thursday, the pro-Jonathan faction said it “unanimously and unequivocally reaffirmed the decision of Ohaneze Ndigbo and that of the delegates at the 1st Summit of Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria, in endorsing President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan”. It added that “delegates urged all Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria to disregard the purported endorsement of General Muhammadu Buhari by the former President of IDA, Chief D.S. Inyama –on behalf of Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria”.
The communiqué added that “delegates urge Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria to come out en mass without fear of intimidation, to cast their votes for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR during the rescheduled Presidential election on Saturday, 28th March, 2015”.
TheNiche reliably gathered that trouble started brewing within the ranks of the Igbo political leadership in Northern Nigeria after the 1ST Summit of Ndigbo which held for two days at Agura Hotels, Abuja, early February, when some delegates at the Summit felt short changed by the organizers, over monies donated to the body by some non Igbo individuals who are close to Jonathan.
According to a source at the Summit, the money was ran into several millions of Naira, was pocketed by a few individuals, to the anger of others. Those who felted marginalized, decided to disagree with the Summit’s decision endorsing President Jonathan, for second term. They mobilized other like minds to move in the direction of the APC candidate.
Meanwhile, Chief Inyama has rejected his purported removal from office by the Jonathan group, describing it as “a Kangaroo decision by an illegal gathering of none IDA members”. In a telephone chat with The NICHE, Inyama said that majority of those claimed to have removed him, have no business attending IDA meeting. “Most of them are not IDA members so they are not qualified to attend meetings of the Assembly let alone taking such an irrational decision that cannot stand the test of the time”.
He affirmed that he still remained the President of IDA. “Of course I am still the President of IDA. The so called removal of me from office is the greatest joke of the century by some political hawks who are battling to deceive the Igbo race here in the North. Their pronouncement cannot be taken seriously by any reasonable person and very soon they will discover how irrelevant they have become”, he said.
His traducers had however claimed, during the press briefing, that they had to move against him because his tenure expired over three years ago. It was not however explained to the journalists at the briefing, why they had to wait till this time before striking.