Contrary to what has been reported and shown in videos about the cancellation of the 14th Mbaise 2023 convention, stakeholders and concerned members have disclosed the truth.
Rowland Okorie, the event manager and winner of the Classic Africa Merit Award, who was also present, praised the event as excellent, calling it a well-organized convention that will live on in the memories of those who attended.
He said; “High Chief SOS Echendu, Chief Alozie Ezeji Aguwa, and his members will forever be remembered in history as heroes of Mbaise. If the Imo State run in the upcoming election, I believe High Chief SOS Echedu and Chief Alozie Aguwa should be consulted. The biggest of them all was the 2023 convention. Given that all promises were kept, I refer to it as a hybrid of under promise and over deliver.”
On what caused the shutdown, Rowland said; “The event turned out to be a simple quarrel between two women that subsequently escalated to the cops taking the chance to shine and overzealously carry out their duty. America is the best country in the world and treats everyone equally, regardless of race, economic status, or wealth. At first, we believed that by going as far as to call off the event based on an excessive justification other than the reason the police were invited, it was disrespectful to an entire race and the local elders.”
He also said; “The unpleasant picture that appears to be a bad Nollywood script began when a disgruntled black American woman got angry because she couldn’t use the hotel elevator. The two women were at each other’s throats, cursing and screaming at the top of their lungs, threatening to rain down fire and brimstone. She had poured her rage on a white elderly woman who was at that moment angry at the crowd and everything black around her.”
“The hotel’s management phoned the police out of fear after the young woman called the elderly woman many derogatory things. When the police arrived on the scene, they shutdown the place and they did so out of fear without waiting to determine the true nature of the situation. The reason for shutting down was explained. Health hazard and combustible risk because of the crowd was stated.”
“Although mature Mbaise elders attributed it to culture clash being a very simple miscommunication in the way one race sees the other because the music, the attires and the sound being made by people at the convention which for themselves was just fun, merrymaking and networking, but it was just too much for the whites who have never seen such level of affluence, such level of enjoyment, such level of feverish joy and excitement. Convention is voted to be hosted in NC next year.”
“What we see as fun and progress may be seen as madness to another tribe or race. Be that as it may, culture clash or not a few radical and hot headed Mbasie lawyers have decided to take the matter to court faulting the management of Westin Hotel , Texas as to why they collected all their money for hall rent, food, etc. wait for the event to start and shut it down. They vowed to make an example out of both the Police and the hotel so as to make the matter see the light of day in court.”
Buttressing his point, the chief executive officer of Equity Concept Entertainment, Rowland Okorie who had just finished the presentation of Project NWAFOR Igbo, said; “The event was a massive success but had not come to an end yet but the aim of the gathering had been achieved. For the organizers to have mentioned project NWAFOR Igbo on that day and accepted by the entire Mbaise people in the USA, then what more could be greater?”
He emphasized that; “Police are fond of doing things like this. But now it’s not a matter of Black Lives Matter. It’s a case of NDIGBO LIVES MATTERS. Racism played no role in the conduct of the police, in fact, I never see it at full risk but now. Thank God there was no fire outburst or any kind of danger we imposed on ourselves without the help of the police.”
Rowland Okorie also lashed out at a video in circulation in which a blogger added a footnote as to why Igbos were being witch hunted across the globe. Meanwhile the blogger was not at the event.
Okorie said; “What you see in that video is not rejection but a violation mixed with celebration. WE ARE NOT REJECTED. We flooded the hotel with a crowd never seen before without considering the size of the hall. So in actual fact both the hotel and its hall does not deserve our presence and cannot carry our magnitude. We are hardworking and proud people and when we unwind and gather for an event, we unwind to the fullest and gather in a mammoth crowd.”
“In every 13 there is a Judas. So, both the write up and the video leak was done with wrong reasons and betrayal by one of our own backstabbing brothers whose time will come soon. Igbo enemies use the media as weapons of mass destruction to eliminate us, tarnish our image both home and abroad at every twist and turn, but we will eventually get it done right. We will remove the grains from the chaff. The time has come,” he concluded.
