The Senate Chief Whip and former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, has endorsed a former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Prof George Obiozor, to be the next President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The Senator representing Abia North, in a statement by one of his aides, Emeka Nwala, in Abuja on Sunday, called on Ime Obi Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which is the organization’s highest organ, to adopt Obiozor as his consensus candidate.
Kalu added that he had made wide consultations with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige; and the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
The former governor said he had consulted the governors of Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra and Imo states.
He Chief Whip disclosed that he had also spoken with a former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; a former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Nkeiru Onyejeocha; Senator Ben Obi; and other Igbo leaders in National Assembly, who he said, he pleaded with to support Obiozor.
The statement read in part, “Ohanaeze is the authentic voice of the Igbo, which exists for the sole purpose of speaking for and representing the interest of Ndigbo since its inception in 1976.
“It is expected to be non-partisan. We need a leadership that can rightly define and defend the interests of the Ndigbo. I have known Prof. George Obiozor for a long time and I am confident he will competently lead an active, mature, hardworking and viable Ohanaeze Ndigbo organization.”
However, the highest decision-making organ of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ime-Obi Ohanaeze Ndigbo, urged the 40-member national election committee on Saturday to conduct the January 11, 2021 election in strict adherence to the constitution of the body.
The body said this shortly after it adopted elections committee nominated by the Chief Nnia Nwodo-led leadership for the elections.
Imo-Obi Ohanaeze said that the organ would continue to ensure that Ohanaeze flourished as a socio-cultural organization. The organ is made up of former leadership, governors and former governors in Igboland, leadership of the traditional rulers’ council in all the five states in the South-East region, and some other categories of political office holders.
At a meeting in Enugu, the outgoing President-General, Nwodo, assured the elders that his leadership would not impose a successor on the organization.