BOKO HARAM: IKEDIFE WARNS NORTHERN ELDERS ON IHEJIRIKA

Former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife yesterday, while speaking to newsmen in his Nnewi country home, warned of a break-up of the country, if former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nasir El-Rufai, and other northern leaders did not refrain from discrediting the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Major General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd) and other Igbo icons.

Dr. Dozie Ikedife said the accusation was another classical case of hounding and haunting of an Igbo icon in the person of General Ihejirika, who left the Army a few months ago as the Chief of Army Staff and that such a blatant statement was capable of attracting the wrath of Ndigbo.

He said: “I wish to recall that when Ihejirika left the Army, those I identified as destroyers of credit and rumour mongers said that he was dismissed from the Army, but my investigation revealed that Ihejirika retired as and when due and was indeed the last member of his course mates to retire from the army.

“Following that retirement, he continued, the high and the mighty in one section of the country ganged themselves up and decided to take Ihejirika to the International Court of Justice for alleged crime against humanity because, as they said, of the way he hounded, the way he tried to checkmate Boko Haram insurgency when he was head of the Nigerian army. They accused him of using undue force and fighting Boko Haram mercilessly.

“That particular accusation seems to have died down because it must be understood that in the army, you carry out orders and take instructions from the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. So, the stigma they wanted to stick on him did not work.”