Ngige to MASOB: I Am Practicing What Ojukwu Taught Ndigbo

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has reacted to the statement credited to the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in reaction to a recent press interview in which he advised Ndigbo against placing all their political eggs in one basket, and concluded that MASSOB’s position was uninformed and a shot in the wrong direction.

According to the minister “I am only practicing what the late leader of Ndigbo, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu taught us.”

A statement by the Special Assistant, Media to the Minister, Nwachukwu Obidiwe described Ngige as a consummate Igbo leader who would never disparage the Igbo or work against their interest.

“With his sterling pedigree as former President General of Aka-Ikenga for eight years, member of Ohaneze Strategic Committee and member, Imeobi Ohaneze, Ngige only advised our people to rise above the prevailing selfpity, awaken the resilient spirit for which Igbos are known and quickly re-strategise as other geopolitical zones in the country are currently doing.

“I wish to put on record that my position is exactly the same position our late leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu took in 1982 when he left the Igbo dominated NPP to join the NPN. Ikemba reasoned that while Igbos give support to Zik’s NPP, there was also the wisdom in spreading our political net to the waters of the ruling party. Ikemba did so to ensure that Ndigbo was not all boxed into a regional party or enclave which can disconnect or limit their participation in the nation’s apex political conclave.”

“If Ojukwu thought that doing otherwise was myopic in 1982, why is a section of the Igbo crucifying Ngige for preaching and practicing the wise counsel of our eternal leader, Ikemba?” the statement asked.

According to him, “it is therefore clear that the ‘new’ leadership of MASSOB needs a clearer and undistorted interpretation of the truth in my position, which is that it is politically unwise for us to repeat in future elections, the 2015 presidential election voting pattern where all our eggs were dumped in one basket; the basket failed and the eggs all broken.”