Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, the most prominent Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has voiced its disapproval of the suspension and subsequent arrest of Godwin Emefiele, who formerly served as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo characterised the arrest and detention as evidence of ethnic cleansing in their statement.
It has been reported that this information was provided by the organisation in the form of a statement that was distributed to the media by Mazi Chima Uzor, the director of National Interest Matters.
According to the organisation, the appropriate procedures were not followed when Emefiele was suspended.
He went on to say that the decision was made as part of the current administration’s concerted efforts to drive Igbos away from public office and that it was one of those efforts.
This is what the statement said:
“The Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo Worldwide hereby condemns in the strongest possible terms the suspension of Dr. Godwin Emefiele from his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“To say the least, this suspension is without due process, and the arresting of him in spite of a court order prohibiting the DSS from arresting him is provocative. Well-meaning Nigerians need to resist this and ensure that it does not stand.
“This development, in our opinion, is unmistakably a part of the new administration’s plan to ethnically cleanse the Igbos from public office,”
“This is nothing but a witch hunt directed at the Igbos for no other reason than they dared to oppose the new administration in the most recent general elections,” said one commentator. “This is nothing but a witch hunt directed at the Igbos.”
