Igbo Elders Council has endorsed Sir Mike Okiro for President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
According to a statement issued on behalf of the Organization, Nze Uchechukwu Enweremmadu said Okiro is the only living retired senior police officer to have worked with nine heads of state and Presidents of Nigeria including General Mohammadu Buhari, GMB in 1983, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in 1985, Gen Sani Abacha in 1990, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1998, President Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ in 1999, President Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ in 2010, President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB in 2015 and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, BAT when he was the governor of Lagos State and Sir Mike Okiro was his Commissioner of Police.
“Okiro had a track record of solving the nations problems time and again without using bullets or WMD” Enweremmadu said. As a police officer, he was able to handle the Odua Peoples Congress, OPC problem in Lagos State that could have resulted in much more serious economic losses to Lagos, but his handling of that crisis saved Lagos State and the Southwest region of Nigeria from serious breakdown of law and order and helped repositioned the entire region to become the best regional economy in the country.
Niger Delta Amnesty Program: Sir Mike Okiro came up with the idea of amnesty for the Niger Delta militants so there wouldn’t be bloodshed of Nigerian youths in the Niger Delta region. That action saved the lives of tens of thousands of Nigeria’s Niger Delta youths from what could have become the greatest tragedy of our time from Nigeria’s own military onslaught on Nigeria’s youths.
Apart from saving lives of Niger Delta youths, that action also saved the lives of many security services personnel because they didn’t have to go onto an all out war with the militants which could have resulted in huge casualties on both sides. This very action also helped Nigeria grow economy because in Just 24 hours after Sir Mike Okiro returned from the creeks after meeting with the militants, thousands of guns were surrendered, the militants stopped their attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure and Nigeria’s crude oil output jumped from 600,000 BPD to 1.6 Million BPD. We can all thank Okiro for taking the risk to visit the militants alone in their hideouts deep in the creeks. The militants didn’t hold him captive because of their trust and confidence in Sir Mike Okiro.
Without any doubt, even a layman in the street could see the connection between Sir Mike Okiro saving the economy of the Southwest then from collapse as a result of the activities of the OPC and the Niger Delta Amnesty Act engineered by Okiro as the most patriotic act by any Nigerian in our recent history as a nation.
Why is Sir Mike Okiro the best candidate for the position of Ohaneze Ndigbo? With his track record of helping to bring about peace and economic stability to two geopolitical zones of Southwest and Southsouth of Nigeria, we believe he can replicate same in the Southeast of Nigeria and indeed all Igboland by ending the isolation of Igbos in Nigeria.
Sir Mike Okiro is loved, trusted and respected far beyond the bounds of Igboland and the borders of Nigeria. This is the kind of leadership we the Igbos need to lead us at this critical time where building bridges across various divides has become imperative to achieve collective Igbo and national development.
Be that as it may, the traditional ruler and people of Mgbede community in Egbema, Ogba in Ndoni Local government area of Rivers have debunked rumors going round that Sir Mike Mbama Okiro is not from Rivers state stating that it was calculated at tarnishing the image of not only their respected son but wilfully denying his root.
In a strongly worded release signed by the traditional ruler, HRM Eze Everestus Ginikanwa Amuda JP,
Nzeobi Egbema, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA, Rivers state on behalf of the community, they stated that; “The attention of the Nzeobi of Egbema, the Nzeobi-in- Council and the entire Egbema clan in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State has been drawn to some totally untrue, misleading and malicious piece of trash making rounds in the social media which purported that our own very son, Sir (Chief) Dr Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI. Agulaechemba Egbema is not from Rivers State.
“Ordinarily, the people of Egbema clan in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State wouldn’t have responded to such piece in order not to give credence to those behind such trash, but remaining silent and ignoring the piece and those behind it could be misconstrued and taken as truth, particularly by the gullible in our society, so the Nzeobi of Egbema and his Eze in Council has deemed it very necessary and important to set the record straight here:
“That while Sir Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI Agulaechemba Egbema was born in Oguta in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, his parents are from Mgbede community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. That Sir Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI joined the Nigeria Police Force as a Rivers State indigene from Mgbede community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State and served in the Force where he honorably retired as an Inspector General of Police as an indigene of Rivers State, his records are there for all to see and his state of origin was never in doubt or questioned.
“That while, as a student at the University of Ibadan, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI was the treasurer of Rivers State Students Association University of Ibadan chapter.
That Sir Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI, Agunaechemba Egbema is my cabinet member, HRM Eze Evarestus Ginikanwa Amuda JP, the Nzeobi of Egbema Kingdom in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State and that Egbema people, therefore, are calling on interested parties or groups to please desist from raising doubts about the root of Sir Mike Mbama Okiro KSJI, Agunaechemba Egbema.
“The general public is also advised to disregard any of such publications as there’s no iota of truth in them.”