The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to a press release making the rounds that the 2023 Igbo Day Celebration will be held in the City of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The press release signed by High Chief Monday Wehere and Igwe Onyeche Wofurum, the President General and Secretary General respectively, on behalf of Iwuruoha Peoples Assaciation (IPA) used the medium to state that “Ikwerre people are not Igbos, and there is no “Igbo-speaking” part of Ikwerre land as claimed by the organizers of the provocative event proposed to hold in Port Harcourt”
For the avoidance of doubt, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, led by Chief Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, MFR, OFR, CFR, FINCE, FNSE, KSG (Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo) has since three months ago scheduled the 2023 Igbo Day for Friday, September 29, 2023 at the Michael Okpara Square, Independence Lay Out, Enugu. The Igbo Day celebration will be preceded by a lecture by an erudite Professor and the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, The Most Rev. Dr. Godfrey Igwebuike Onah at 4pm on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Among other events, there will be post-humous awards to some eminent Igbo who have served the Igbo nation and Nigeria with passion, courage, sincerity and sacrifice.
With respect to the ethnic identity of the good people of Ikwerre, it is our prayers that the Ikwerre will continue to grow in population, strength and prosperity. It is neither the intention of the Igbo to impose ethnic identity on anybody or group nor to appropriate extraneous ambivalent identities to ourselves. This is because, the Igbo are pre-eminently endowed in diverse ways including population; and those who are proud of their Igbo identity have never had cause for regrets. We add that the Igbo blood is very thick and that ultimately, water will find its level.
During the 2023 Igbo Day Celebration, we will seize the occasion to present posthumous awards in memory of some eminent Ikwerre icons who throughout their enviable lives and outstanding public service did not in any way betray ethnic equivocation and identity crises.
