Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has rejected the youth award given to Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, by a faction of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing led by one Mr. Okpalaezeukwu Chukwuma.
The Ohanaeze Youth Council made this known on Tuesday in a statement issued by its National President General, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka.
The Council described the award as unmerited, adding that the award was given by a group of “political desperados”.
It described it as a provocative attempt capable of stirring up the wrath and/or the anger of thousands of Imo youths allegedly killed during Uzodinma’s administration.
Igboayaka, who issued the statement in Abuja while reacting to the controversies over the award, said the youth council regretted that some “jobless and hungry youths have fallen so cheap, courtesy of hunger, hardship and rudderlessness in Imo State, into horrible political eulogies and supportation of Governor Uzodinma and thereby encouraging political mediocrity and the corrupt principles of ‘guymanism’ in the state merely for stomach infrastructure”.
Igboayaka further alleged that Governor Uzodinma had been “desperately looking for a platform to give him credence for his unpopular, failed and rejected re-election bid and that’s why he has continued wasting and embezzling the taxpayers’ money of Ndi Imo.”
He alleged that the governor camped some youths under the auspices of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing at Ibis Royal Hotel, Area A, World Bank in Imo State from Friday, September 15 to Thursday, September 21 to be given the award as the Grand Commander of Igbo Youths Worldwide.
“How can Gov. Hope Uzodinma, who was groomed on the street and left the street life at Lagos without credibility, have any business to do with governance in a civilized society?” he questioned.
He stated that the group of youths who gave the governor the award lacked the prerequisite knowledge of leadership and governance.
He said, “It’s empirically clear that any reasonable organization with vast knowledge on the global rating of people and governance would have given Gov. Hope Uzodinma the award of ‘Grand Commander of Insecurity in Igboland’ in lieu of otherwise.”
“Under the watch of Gov. Hope Uzodinma, unfortunately, the population of Imo State youths was depopulated through ruthless killings for the past 3 years and 6 months now both by non-state actors and untrained security operatives at the behest of Gov. Hope Uzodinma.
“With the reality before the world, if not for hunger and corruption, the so-called Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing of Mr Okpalaezeukwu Chukwuma and his associates could have written their names on the marble if they had given Gov. Hope Uzodinma his merited award as the ‘Grand Commander of pre-mature deaths of Igbo youths,’ having looked at tolls or scores of deaths of the innocent Imo youths under the careful supervision of Gov. Hope Uzodinma.” He added.
