The new President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has been advised to align with President –elect Bola Tinubu to bring peace to the Southeast.
An All Progress Congress chieftain in the Southeast, Modestus Umenzekwe, and a Civil war veteran, Jacob Iheoma, who gave the advice yesterday, also set agenda for Iwuanyanwu.
Iwuanyanwu was last week named the successor of the late President -General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Prof. George Obiozor.
However, the process that led his emergence was flayed by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma; a former Anambra State lawmaker, Tony-Uche Ezekwelu and General-Secretary of Aligbo Development Foundation, Abia Onyike.
They all spoke amidst reports that Im-eobi (caucus) of Ohanaeze will meet in Enugu on Sunday to deliberate on the choice of the elderstatesman and other challenges facing the group.
Umenzekwe and Iheoma, who welcomed the leadership of Ohanaeze by Iwuanyanwu, told The Nation that he (Iwuanyanwu) should build bridges across other ethnic nationalities.
For Umenzekwe, the new Ohanaeze leader should work closely with Tinubu to bring peace and unity to the Southeast. He added that Iwuanyanwu should make sure that Ndigbo were not left out in sharing of political offices by the incoming government.
Iheoma, who descried the violence in the Southeast, reminded Iwuanyanwu that so much was expected by the Igbo of his leadership.
He said: “He should seek or open up more communication with the agitating groups and know how he can interface with the incoming administration to nip insecurity in the Southeast .
“Nnamdi Kanu is still in the custody of the DSS(Department of State Services). The Igbo are losing out in national leadership and we need an Ohanaeze that would sell the Igbo agenda to the entire Nigerians.
“Igbos were excluded from the outgoing administration. We want the new leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the coming government.”
Spokesperson for the youth wing of Ohanaeze, Chika Adiele, described Iwuanyanwu as a good replacement for the late Obiozor. Adiele advised him to incorporate the youth in his administration