Igbo Youths, APC Trade Words over Jonathan’s Scorecard

goodluck jonathan

The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, South-East Youths Consultative Forum, SEYCOF, and the South East zonal chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, are in a war of wits as President Goodluck arrives in Enugu State tomorrow for a South-East rally.

While the OYC has condemned what it called President Jonathan’s unfulfilled promises to the Ndigbo, SEYCOF berated OYC, describing its verbal attack on Jonathan as misdirected and unwarranted.

In the same vein, the South-East zone of the APC has backed OYC, commending it for standing up to ‘systemic and pervasive corruption’.

Spokesman of APC in the South-East, the OYC stated that though the Ndigbo mobilised, canvassed and worked seriously to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan won the 2011 presidential election, “yet the lofty promises made then have become empty promises.”

The newly elected leader of the council, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the Ndigbo were yet to feel the impact of Jonathan’s administration, but the National Coordinator and the Secretary of SEYCOF, Dr. B.N Ogini and Mr. Nnamdi Anigbo respectively, yesterday took a swipe on OYC.

They described the OYC’s position as “a baseless propaganda being sponsored by opposition groups against President Jonathan.”

In the statement it issued in Enugu, the SEYCOF coordinator said their stand was based on ‘truth’ and not frivolity as it was not out to score any political point.

The group urged Ndigbo and Nigerians to avoid the temptation of alleged mischief makers bent on feeding them with half-truths, deceit and lies against the president.

The group said it was curious that Isiguzoro took the gauntlet against Jonathan shortly after he assumed role as leader of the youth wing of Ohanaeze.

According to Dr. Ogini, “We found it not only strange and unfortunate, but also condemnable that the Ohanaeze youth wing has allowed itself to become a willing tool in the hands of anti-Jonathan elements at this point in time.

“From this development, one can see clearly that at this early stage the Ohaneze youth wing has already been hijacked by members of the opposition parties who see nothing good in President Jonathan’s administration.

“While we understand the desperation of certain groups to satisfy their pay-masters, we urge the Ohanaeze youths wing not to align itself with such self-seeking elements, but seek better ways of fostering unity and progress of Ndigbo”.

Joining the fray, the APC in South-East said it was ‘refreshed’ to note that the OYC was able to recognise the paradox of the false propaganda being dished out on how the Nigerian economy has overtaken that of South Africa, with astronomical growth, while paradoxically, the World Bank reported festering poverty and gross unemployment.

In a statement issued yesterday by APC’s Osita Okechukwu, the opposition party said it was important to notify the OYC that President Jonathan could not complete the road to his home town.