Aguiyi-Ironsi memorial: Ohanaeze youth council blasts S’East govs, lawmakers for absence 

The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, has criticised the South East Governors for not physically joining Governor Alex Otti in Umuahia, Abia State, for the celebration of 60th memorial anniversary of Nigeria’s former military Head of State, Major-General Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi held on Wednesday.

The group also faulted National Assembly members from the South East region for not showing up.

In a statement it issued in Umuahia on Wednesday to commemorate the 60th memorial of the death of the former military Head of State, the President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Igboayaka O.Igboayaka said that the absence of the Igbo leaders from the important event was shocking.

“It is disheartening to note that Southeast Governors, namely Gov. Hope Uzodimma, Gov. Francis Nwifuru, Gov. Peter Mbah, and Gov. Charles Soludo, failed to attend the memorial anniversary of the first Nigerian indigenous Major General and first Nigerian indigenous military commander of Igbo extraction.

“If the late Maj. Gen. JTU Aguiyi Ironsi belonged to the Yoruba, Hausa or Fulani ethnic groups, the situation would likely be different, and it is unlikely that governors from Yoruba, Hausa or Fulani land would be absent from such a significant historical event”, Igboayaka lamented.

He declared that the absence of the political leaders highlighted a lack of unity of purpose among Igbo leaders in both executive and parliamentary positions.

Igboayaka called urged the South East Governors to demonstrate responsibility and reasonableness in handling the affairs that concern Ndigbo by participating in programs that unite and advance the Igbo course.

“They did not participate in the Biafra memorial heros and heroines anniversary, they did not participate in Late Maj. JTU Aguiyi Ironsi memorial anniversary, or the Igbo carnival”, Igboayaka frowned.