By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the Mbaise People’s Congress (MPC) colloquium usually held on August 14 every year.
MPC National Working Committee said it cancelled the programme to help contain the spread of the ravaging disease which has affected lives and livelihoods all over the world.
MPC National President, Honourable Carl Azudibia, explained that although almost all arrangements for the colloqium had been concluded, MPC “could not proceed with the conclave because of the health and general implications for the expected participants who usually throng to the conference from home and abroad.”
Azudibia made the point in a statement issued by MPC Publicity Director, Engineer Ben Nnaji.
But MPC stresses that it is still focused on its core mandate, which is ‘Towards a Greater Mbaise,’ and expressed regret for the inconvenience the shelving of the colloquium would cause those who had planned to attend, including guest speakers and discussants.
In the 25 years of the colloquium, this is the second time it would be cancelled abruptly; the first was in 2014 when MPC lost its foundation member, Engineer Dan Iheagwara, a few weeks before the event.
Mbaise Colloquium, the flagship programme of MPC, attracts sons, daughters and friends of the Mbaise people annually from home and abroad to gather and discuss issues germane to the people and their region.
Intellectuals who have delivered papers at the conference since its inception in 1995 include late Prof. Celestine Onwuliri, late Vanguard newspaper columnist, Pini Jason Onyegbaduo, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, Regional Director of Ford foundation, Innocent Chukwuma, and Mr. Andy Nkemneme.