Igbo Group slams Osita Okechukwu on outburst against Bala Mohammed
BY BEN NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
A group known as Igbo Progressive Front ( IPF) has slammed Mr Osita Okechuku, Voice of Nigeria Director General, over what they have called his “reckless, vulgar, and gutter sniping comments against Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.
According to the Group “The unguarded comments have been described as the worst kind of diatribe, which only serves to muddy and reduce our realpolitik by lowering the discourse crucial to achieving the best outcome for the Nigerian people in the forth coming 2023 general elections”.
The press release signed by Mazi Njoku Mbamalu, president of the group, cautioned the VoN chief to bridle his tongue. “It is evident that Mr Okechuku is deflecting from the disorganisation and disunity that inhabits his party, APC, through this display, such aggression and failure cannot be transferred. Where the opposition PDP have shown cohesion and direction, the ruling APC are playing catch up and fighting internal fires to appear electable.
“Osita sees daily how his own people are complaining bitterly about their treatment and marginalisation. Yet, he remains aloof and distant in engagement that would have doused tension and brought about remedy as Igbo youth were being brutalised and detained by the government, he is a part of. He has been and remains far removed in assisting to remedy the situation, because he is myopic in his self-interest.
“It is indeed comical that Osita Okechuku a proud supporter of Buhari’s “97% and 5%” politics, a great defender of Buhari’s administration, a cheer leader of a government that has reportedly used force against Igbo youth will have the temerity to make uncouth and gutter comments about Bala Mohammed, an acknowledged detribalised Nigerian, an inclusionist and champion of diversity, is wrong and below the belt.
“Therefore, with great astonishment and disbelief, we wonder why a pan national figure who authored the Doctrine of Necessity that made Dr Jonathan Acting President would be described as an ethnic irredentist or chauvinist.
“Bala Mohammed, a Fulani who stood up to support Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, an Ijaw man, at a time of recognized crisis in the nation, did his duty and spent his political capital as a matter of necessity in the interest of the nation. This was not the act of a chauvinistic tribalist.
“In fact, we have it on reliable authority that Osita was amiably assisted by Bala Mohammed, when the Governor was the Minister of FCT. In his time of desperate need, Osita with bowl in hand, was rendered audience and aid with every visit. Indeed, it is shocking that Mr Okechuku should portray a man he has praised in private as wonderful and kind, as vile and despicable in public.
The group admonished the VoN DG to face his case with the EFCC where he is being investigated and inside the Presidential Villa which has abandoned him to his fate saying, “No amount of grandstanding and vitriol aimed at a true progressive and patriot like Bala Mohammed will curry him favour.”
“Clearly, Osita is being haunted by a tragic sense of underachievement and desperation borne of the accusations of his alleged case of conspiracy, abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds. His inability to mount a meaningful and viable defence shows his desperation and low handedness in search of a narrative that not only ingratiates him to his party and the president, he hopes it will also buy him absolution.”
Going spiritual, the group warned that “there is a just reward for wickedness as well as Karmic judgment for the ungrateful and unappreciative Osita’s vituperation against Governor Bala Mohammed are beyond political dispute or the holding of contrary opinion, they were mean, nasty, and desperate.”
