‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo Is An Illegal Association’ – Lawyer Asks EFCC To Investigate Nwodo

Mr Amobi Nzelu, counsel for the Ohaneze Ndigbo General Assembly, which was recently registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, weekend, petitioned the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission requesting a halt to the forthcoming election of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo under the leadership of Chief John Nnia Nwodo. The election is scheduled for January 2021.

Nzelu, in the petition, further demanded the disbandment of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as well as scrutiny of the accounts of the body. The petition read in part, “Our client is registered under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and issued with Certificate of Incorporation No. 144918 on the 28th day of February, 2020 by the CAC. By virtue of the incorporation of our client, it is now saddled with the responsibility of piloting the affairs of Igbo as contained in the Articles and Memorandum of Association filed at the CAC on their behalf.

“For more than two decades, people of Igbo extraction branded themselves as ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo’ and this group or association at various times has been led by prominent people in some of the states that constitute Igbo speaking areas. However, it has been discovered that the said ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo’ now being led by Chief Nnia Nwodo was not duly registered in accordance with the extant provisions of the law nor was any Article and Memorandum of Association defining or circumscribing their functions filed and registered on their behalf with the relevant authorities.

“The only import from the evolving scenario or better still the only inference to be drawn is that ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo’ being led by Chief John Nnia Nwodo is not a registered organization and as such is an illegal association and cannot transact any business they are transacting now. ‘Ohanaeze Ndigbo’ led by Chief John Nnia Nwodo has no certificate of incorporation and as such is an entity unknown to law. The only reasonable deduction for the group being unregistered is that it is an illegal body and all her activities null and void.”

Nzelu added in the petition that based on his adduced facts, the proposed election by the body was illegal, and called for investigations into the accounts and activities of Ohanaeze Ndigbo ‘led by Chief John Nnia Nwodo, and all monies collected from individuals, governors and highly exposed political personalities’.

He also called for the arrest, interrogation, and prosecution of the principal officers of ‘the said Ohanaeze Ndigbo present and past, for running an illegal association’.

According to the petition, “It’s our humble view that it amounts to passing off or impersonation, breach of the extant provisions of the law or/invitation to anarchy to allow Chief John Nnia Nwodo-led group of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to continue to operate in the name of Ohanaeze Ndigbo without any certificate of incorporation from the Corporate Affairs Commission nor any enabling known to law enactment establishing its existence and operations.”