- Safiu Kehinde
The Rivers Restoration Movement (RRM), an interest group, has announced plans to stage peaceful protests in Abuja, Rivers, and at United Nations offices across Nigeria as it rejects the election of Sen. John Azuta-Mbata s Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General.
This is coming under the heels of criticism over Azuta-Mbata’s descent as an Ikwerre man.
Some of his kinsmen had argued that the Ikwerre people are not ethnically Igbo and as such not legible to lead the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization.
Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, RRM’s Director-General, Johnson Georgewill, issued a seven-day ultimatum for Azuta-Mbata to resign, warning of resistance from the Ikwerre people if the demand was not met.
“We are outraged that the administration of Gov. Siminalayi Fubara supported Azuta-Mbata’s election as Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General purely for political reasons,” Georgewill stated.
He emphasised that Ikwerres are not ethnically Igbos and questioned why such an important position was given to someone allegedly outside the Igbo ethnic group.
“The President-General’s primary duty is to represent the interests of all Igbo people within and outside of Nigeria.
“Are the Ikwerre people Igbos to justify Azuta-Mbata representing them? The answer is a resounding no,” Georgewill declared.
He noted that the Ikwerre people have consistently rejected claims of being Igbos since the dissolution of the former Eastern Nigeria by Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s administration.
Georgewill accused Fubara’s administration of trying to use ethnicity to destabilise the Ikwerre people for political gain, vowing that the RRM would resist such attempts.
“Former Governor Nyesom Wike, who is the political leader in Rivers worked tirelessly to maintain a 50-year political alliance between the Ijaws and Ikwerre’s, which led to Fubara’s election.
“This move undermines that bond and humiliates Rivers people by attempting to enslave the Ikwerres,” he said.
Geogewill called on Gov. Fubara to withdraw his congratulatory message to Azuta-Mbata and urged the President-General to step down within seven days.
He dismissed arguments that Ikwerres are Igbos based on linguistic and cultural similarities, citing examples from the United Kingdom where the Welsh and Scots, despite similarities, do not consider themselves English.
The director-general also called on President Bola Tinubu, who also congratulated Azuta-Mbata, the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Service (DSS), and political leaders to intervene.
“Our founding fathers such as Melford Okilo, Obi Wali, Chief Nwaobidike Wonodi, and other great Ikwerre leaders will be turning in their graves by this development.
“This injustice transcends party affiliation; it concerns the people of Rivers state and their independence within the Nigerian state” Georgewill asserted.
He urged all true sons and daughters of Rivers to speak out against what he called an injustice.
According to reports, the rejection of Mbata, an ally of Fubara, may stem from the political disputes between Wike and Fubara.
Sources suggested that the Wike’s camp views Mbata’s election as a political strategy designed to weaken Wike’s influence among his Ikwerre kinsmen.