A pressure group, the Oha Ndigbo has called for the postponement of this year's election of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to elect new national, state and local government officers of the pan Igbo group to ensure transparency and equity in the election.

This was contained in a communique issued by the group after a worldwide zoom meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting noted that although voting in the election scheduled for January 10, 2021, was through electoral college, eligible voters were yet to be known eight days to the election, even as the list of voters should have been published at least 14 days to the poll.

The communique titled "Resolutions of oncerned Oha Ndigbo on the Ohnanaeze Election 2021," read: Preamble:

"A worldwide Zoom meeting of Concerned Oha Ndigbo with some of the known aspirants contesting for the offices of Ohanaeze President General and Secretary General held on Tuesday, 5th January, 2021 (6.30pm NT) and Wednesday, 6th January, 2021 (6.30pm NT) and was broadcast worldwide by Njenje Media TV. 

"This is sequel to numerous and unprecedented engagements by Ndigbo globally on the oncoming Ohaneze elections.

"The meeting which had in attendance notable and prominent ndigbo across the globe reviewed the ongoing preparations for the forthcoming Ohanaeze National Election scheduled for Owerri, Imo State on Sunday, January 10, 2021, observes as follows:

"Voting in the general elections is by an electoral college, which comprises Statutory and Elected delegates. 

"The meeting notes and wishes to draw the attention of all that the most important and basic requirement for electoral process of the Ohaneze general elections to be deemed, credible, fair, transparent and above all acceptable to Ndigbo is that the list of the qualified Electoral College members should not only be drawn up in line with the provisions of the Ohaneze constitution but should be published and availed to Oha Ndigbo at least 14 days before the election.  

"This will not only enable Oha Ndigbo to know their representatives to the election, so they could reach out to them to indicate their preferred candidate(s). But will more importantly enable the candidates to know who to reach out to in marketing their candidacy.

"It is worrisome and unacceptable that as at 6th January 6, 2021 and three days before the election, there is no official Electoral College list and since the election of state delegates is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 8, it then means that the list may not be available until the day of the election.  

"This in no small measure negates all the known fundamentals of elections and we unequivocally wish to state that if this was the practice in the past, it is not right and no longer acceptable to Oha Ndigbo who desire a cohesive and inclusive leadership structure for Ohaneze as its apex socio cultural organisation.

"We wish to state that it is equally worrisome that as at January 6, many Ndigbo do not know that elections for local, state, and national executive have been scheduled to hold on January 6, 8, and 10 respectively. 

"The reason being that the Election Guidelines was published on December 30, 2020, six days before elections in every local government of Ndigbo without any publicity. In view of the above we make bold to state that Oha Ndigbo will not accept the outcome of an election that they do not know about or have the opportunity to vote or be voted for.

"It is apparent that with the devastating impact of the second wave of Covid-19, holding an election in one physical location will disenfranchise many members of the Electoral College especially the elderly who cannot afford to travel far under the current environment and that is unacceptable in this technology age that Ndigbo are major players.

"We are of the view that these elections present an opportunity to implement electronic voting, which will eventually make it possible for Direct Voting by Oha Ndigbo.

"Following from the above major issues, it is obvious that the outcome of elections holding January 6, 8, and 10, 2021 will not be recognised by a majority of Oha Ndigbo.  

"There is no gainsaying that the apparent rejection of the outcome of these elections will negatively impact the unity of Ndigbo and could lead to the eventual but undesirable decoupling of Oha from Ohanaeze. 

"This will no doubt be a major disservice to Ndigbo especially now that maximum unity is needed to confront current existential threats facing the Igbo Nation.

"Consequent upon the views above, the Concerned Oha Ndigbo Assembly has firmly resolved as follows:

"That the Imeobi Ohanaeze, which is empowered by the governing statutes of Ohanaeze should hold immediately an emergency Zoom meeting to cancel and postpone the ongoing elections for reasons stated above. 

"The elections should be rescheduled to hold over a period of two weeks, 90 days from the Imeobi meeting.

"That the Imeobi should put in place necessary mechanisms for the smooth running of Ohanaeze from January 10, 2021, and the conduct of a free, fair and transparent election that will be acceptable to Ndigbo.

"Immediate mobilisation of Ndigbo to ensure that the will of Oha in accordance with this resolution prevails. Ndigbo need an Ohanaeze recognised and supported by Oha Ndigbo to champion the Akuruoulo Movement.   

"Signed on behalf of Concerned Oha Ndigbo: Dr. Emeka Okengwu - Abia State; Dr. Mrs Ifeyinwa Nwakwesi -Anambra State; Chief Mark-Anthony Nduka-Eze - Delta State;

Dr. Nkata Chuku - Ebonyi State; 

Prof. Uche Amalu- Enugu State;

Mrs. Evelyn Okere-Onyung - Imo State and Ms Chinonye Onyebuenyi - Rivers State."and