Wike dismisses Ohanaeze’s choice of Mbata as President-General, says Ikwerre not Igbo
By Ishaya Ibrahim
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has rebuffed suggestion that he is an Igbo man following his kinsman, ex-Senator John Azuta Mbata’s emergence as President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Mbata, an Ikwerre man was elected President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo on January 10. But for Wike, the choice of an Ikwerre man as the head of the apex Igbo socio-cultural and political organisation doesn’t make Ikwerre a part of the Igbo ethnic group. This is despite that the Ikwerres share significant linguistic and cultural semblance with the Igbos.
Wike, during a live media chat shown on major television networks, says Mbata has the right to associate with any group he chose, but his emergence as Ohanaeze Ndigbo President General doesn’t make the Ikwerre a part of the Igbo ethnic group.
He said just the way every northerner cannot be described as Hausa, the Ikwerres who live in the same region as the Igbos, should not also be called Igbos.
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