I’m The Authentic Ohanaeze President In Lagos State – Chief Aguene Declares

KINGSLEY EBERE 

Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene has  debunked the claims about stepping down and declared that he is the authentic President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State because the Judgement of the Lagos State High Court still subsists and has not been vacated. 

P.M.EXPRESS reports that Chief Aguene stated this at the Ohanaeze Secretariat at James Robinson Street, Surulere, Lagos, during the Ohanaeze General meeting and press conference, where he addressed the lingering issues concerning the visit of Ohanaeze President General, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.

In his address, Chief Aguene, popularly known as Udochia Ndigbo, stated that a lot of people especially the media have been quoting him wrongly while some have not presented the facts to the public and he needed to correct it as the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo of Lagos state.

“I want to use this opportunity to address the issue of Iwuanyanwu’s visit so that everybody will know who is the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and who has the capacity to govern Ndigbo Sociocultural organization in Lagos State.”

“The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, Chief Iwuanyanwu, came to Lagos few days ago. My executives and I went to the airport, welcomed and took him to his hotel. Iwuanyanwu made it clear that he did not come back to Lagos to address the issues around Ohanaeze crisis rather he wants to work with me (Aguene) Solomon, as he sees that I have the capacity. He doesn’t see Chief Sunday Ossai as a leader as he has no capacity to lead Ndigbo. He mentioned that Chief Ossai was the person that was introduced to him as the president of Ohanaeze and brought to him as the elected president. And all of a sudden I  (Aguene) got Court judgement.”

“So I explained to him that in 2018 I was elected Ohanaeze President but some executives of Ohanaeze said they will not be alive and see me become president. They took me to Court and since then, they have produced two presidents to checkmate my activities in Lagos State. We were in the Court for 3 years and 7 months. The other faction later met me and suggested for us to become one as there was no point fighting over this. So we set up a little committee and we were having the meetings until we went to Court and sorted it out whereby it was agreed through consent judgment to complete my work because the main Ohanaeze people did not allow me to function properly for the four years due to Court injunctions.”

“According to the Court judgement,  Ohanaeze will conduct elections in all LCDAs in the State except the office of the President. Having gotten the consent judgment, another faction came and demanded N40m or they will conduct another election because the election was conducted after the judgement and I refused.”

“The Constitution of Ohanaeze did not state that Ohanaeze only has one tenure. And Chief Iwuanyanwu as the President General Worldwide has never stated that he is against the Court judgement and he has recognised me as the president of Ohanaeze in Lagos State but he wants to work with me because he knows I have the capacity to lead.”

“Iwuanyanwu said he is going to take this matter to Ime-Obi. He said that nobody is above Court judgement. And also knows that president, executive members and committees of Ndigbo have positions drawn out and approved by the Court.”

“The second reason for his coming was about Ndi-Eze. A lot of Ndi Ezes are disgracing the country at large. Ndi Eze has about 5 or 6 groups in Lagos State, which is wrong and the worst part is you will see them fighting over unnecessary things. We need to address who is equal and what it means to be an Eze. That quality leadership that it takes to be Eze. Tinubu once scrapped us out when he saw our leaders fighting for bag of rice and a cow he gave us until I came in and restored the value of being an Ohanaeze President.”

When Chief Aguene was asked concerning Iwuanyanwu’s comment before some elders stating that Chief Ossai is the recognized president and  you will be compensated, he replied that Iwuanyanwu is a wise man and he will not disobey the Court judgement.