<\/p>\n
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has condemned the presence of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, at the annual Odenigbo lectures held at Assumpta Cathedral in Owerri, Imo state.<\/p>\n
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation said El-Rufai faced outright rejection from the audience, describing him as a \u201cpolitical pariah\u201d unfit to address the gathering.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Sunday signed by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Deputy President-General of Ohanaeze, and Thompson Ohia, National Spokesman, the group said the outrage was fuelled by the memory of atrocities allegedly committed against Southern Kaduna Christians during el-Rufai\u2019s tenure as governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cEl-Rufai\u2019s ill-advised decision to participate in the Odenigbo lectures was likely motivated by two ambitions: to rewrite the troubled history of his administration and to gauge the political waters of the Igbo people in hopes of reconstructing the political bridges he so recklessly damaged,\u201d Isiguzoro said.<\/p>\n
He claimed that over 2,570 Igbo Christians were killed and investments worth about \u20a62.3 trillion were lost under El-Rufai\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The organisation said families of victims of church burnings and killings in Southern Kaduna were present at the event, which explained the fierce protests that forced el-Rufai to leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vociferous protests were not mere demonstrations of discontent; they were powerful expressions of collective grief and outrage,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n
The group warned political parties against fielding El-Rufai as a running mate in future elections, insisting that his record makes him unacceptable to the Igbo.<\/p>\n
Ohanaeze also demanded that el-Rufai publicly confess to his alleged roles in the killings and offer an unreserved apology to the Igbo people.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly through such an act of contrition may he hope to seek redemption for his transgressions,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n
The organisation said the Igbo will remain vigilant and resolute in ensuring justice and amplifying the voices of the oppressed.<\/p>\n
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has condemned the presence of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, at the annual Odenigbo lectures held at Assumpta Cathedral in Owerri, Imo state. The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation said El-Rufai faced outright rejection from the audience, describing him as a \u201cpolitical pariah\u201d unfit to address the gathering. In a statement on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":235452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Okechukwu-Isiguzoro.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}