Ohanaeze Ndigbo has urged the traditional ruler of Onitcha Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, HRM Obi Christopher Uzu Diji, and the kingmakers of the community to caution the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Ms. Lauretta Onochie.
Ohanaeze’s call followed Ms Onochie’s response to the appeal by Igbo traditional rulers and religious leaders for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
Ms Onochie had, in a statement last weekend, listed some reasons why the President would not heed the appeal.
She condemned Kanu and the violence his organisation unleashed on the society.
According to her, the call for the release of Kanu is to spit on the graves of Dr. Chike Akunyili, Dr. Lawrence Ezenwa, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, slain traditional rulers, students, virgins, among others. Mrs. Onochie said the Igbo were still carrying about “a post-Nigeria Civil war grudge” that even their youths were expanding to President Buhari.
Spokesman of Ohanaeze, Mr. Alex Ogbonnia, drew the attention of the women wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo saying: “Lauretta Onochie is from Onitcha Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. The traditional ruler of her community is HRM Obi Christopher Uzu Diji. Onochie knows the reverence and honour that go with the titled men and traditional rulers in all the Igbo communities.
“Also, as a Christian, Onochie knows that the clergy are the representatives of God here on earth. Therefore, a letter jointly signed by the Igbo traditional rulers and the Archbishops should command the respect of even the most unscrupulous.
“For Lauretta Onochie to use such uncouth words as ‘neonates’, ‘ignorant’, ‘lack of sense of decency’, ‘hide face in shame’, ‘stupidity’, etc, in reference to the revered traditional rulers and the Archbishops is, to say the least, unreflective, odious, warped, despicable and sacrilegious.
“The obnoxious role of denigrating one’s kinsmen to be fully ingratiated and assimilated in the other group is as old as mankind. However, the entrepreneurs of betrayal have never ended well…”