President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos
During his august visit to Lagos, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu gave a mark of support to the presidency of Chief Solomon Ogbonna in the Lagos chapter of the sociocultural organization. He expressed satisfaction at the leadership of ‘the wise Solomon’ Ogbonna Aguene describing him as the ‘capacity president’. It should be recalled that Iwuanyanwu also condoled with the father of late Herbert Wigwe in their family residence as part of his Lagos visit.
Speaking further about the essence of the visit of the President-General to Lagos, Solomon Ogbonna told Trek Africa Newspaper, ‘I went to airport with my executives to welcome our President-General when he flew in from Abuja. He said Solomon I want to work with you. You have the capacity. You are a capacity president. He said Ossai doesn’t have the capacity to lead Ndigbos in Lagos but he admitted that Ossai was presented to him when he first came to Lagos. So I explained to him all that happened.’
‘I told him how I was first elected in 2018 and then some people broke out saying they cannot be under my leadership in Ohanaeze. Also I told him about how it is a duty of Ohanaeze president to celebrate Igbo Day annually in Lagos but because of the court process for 3 years, 7 months, I could not. And then how I got consent judgement of court which stated that we should hold elections for Ohanaeze in all LGAs but the President office in Lagos remains intact. We paid all that is required of us by the court. I then conducted elections for all the LGAs.’
‘Another faction arose that I must pay them N40 million or else they will call Enugu to come and conduct elections in Lagos but I damned them to go to the court to vacate the judgement that was given. All of those things, Obiozor was aware.’
‘Court judgments are important in Nigeria. Many state governors are there because of court judgment. Our President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that some people said he didn’t win and they took him to court, won in the court and you cannot do anything. Only fools will say court judgment cannot stand because that will be contempt of court. After the court judgment, Sanwo-Olu called both factions. It was during the meeting that I showed him the court judgment. The Attorney-General of Lagos said that anybody who parade himself as president should be arrested but because they are my people we shouldn’t be washing our dirty linen in public, I called them again for peace. I will be in office till June 2026.’
Solomon Ogbonna Aguene affirmed that his position as President of the sociocultural organization in Lagos is sacrosanct till 2026. ‘Iwuanyanwu didn’t come to Lagos to remove me, he recognized me and called me capacity president noting that he requires my support to fulfill some projects like an Igbo museum. He promised to take the matter up against Imeobi.’
‘The second reason for his coming was about the Ndieze who are disgracing themselves not only in Lagos but in entire Southwest. Sometimes you see them fighting over simple jollof rice with their regalia. So we need to address the matter of Ezeship. You will remember that Tinubu scrapped the matter of Ohanaeze over the issue of Ezeship until I came in as president. Tinubu gave them 1 bag of rice and 1 cow but when he saw the struggle right in his compound, he scrapped them out. It took my presidency to bring Ndigbo back into the protocol list of Lagos.’
President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide
On the President-General position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide since the demise of the late Gen. Obiozor, the culture ambassador Chief Ogbonna noted: ‘When Obiozor died, Chief Iwuanyanwu became President-General not in an election but in like an appointment. He will be out of the office by January. The next President-General should come from Rivers state but if we don’t get someone who us capable, Chief Iwuanyanwu will continue depending on if age is on his side. He has the leadership quality.’