Apex Igbo socio-cultural Organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo has debunked reports that the organization has been deregistered by the Corporate Affair Commission (CAC), stressing that the group that was deregistered was not the main Ohaneze led by John Nnia Nwodo as President General.
A source within the Ohaneze, told BusinessDay on Wednesday that the apex Igbo group is an ethnic organization and does not need CAC registration in the first place.
The source noted that the so- called group that registered with the name Ohaneze General Assembly, which was led by mischievous elements, had sinister motives even as he welcomed their deregistration adding that it was in line with the complaint the main Ohaneze body issued to the CAC.
“The Main Ohaneze is an ethnic group; it never applied for registration because it was not supposed to be registered.
“The so-called Ohaneze Ndigbo General Assembly was registered by the CAC in error but the CAC having realized that error has now deregistered them. They are not supposed to be registered as Ohaneze because Ohaneze already existed,” the source said.
Confirming the deregistration, CAC reportedly announced that Ohaneze Ndigbo General Assembly and other similar socio-cultural groups cannot be registered by the Commission without getting the necessary clearance from security agencies in the country.
BusinessDay had reported that Registrar General of CAC, Garba Abubakar, said the Commission took the decision to subject such applications to thorough scrutiny following security threats that may arise from such registrations.
Abubakar stated this in Abuja while speaking on the reforms put in place in the Commission to sanitise its operations as well as the recent withdrawal of certificate of registration earlier issued to Ohaneze Ndigbo General Assembly.
He said: “Yes, we have withdrawn the certificate of Ohaneze Ndigbo General Assembly because the certificate should not have been issued in the first instance.
“We have an established protocol that all organisations; ethnic, religious with political implication should be referred for security clearance before such organisations are registered. In 2017, a similar organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide applied to be registered and security agencies rejected it.
“It would have been a double standard to allow another organisation to be registered. Up till now Arewa Consultative Forum is not registered because they were not given security clearance, we have South-South Youth Forum, North East Youth Forum and so many organisations that have not been allowed to register.
“What we have done after withdrawing the certificate, we now referred the application for security clearance, if at the end of the day we are advised that this object is consistent with what the law says, and the trustees are fit and proper, then we will go ahead, but till then, we have withdrawn the certificate. And they have threatened to go to court, we are lawyers, we will meet them in court.”
The decision of the CAC may have been in connection with the recent warning issued on Monday by the Department of State Service (DSS) that some prominent Nigerians and groups were plotting to destabilize the country.
DSS Spokesman Peter Afunanya, said in a statement that “Some prominent personalities and socio-cultural groups have resorted to divisive acts through inciting statements aimed at pitting individuals, groups and ethnic nationalities against another. The Service is, without doubt, aware of these plans and their sponsors.”
Consequently, the DSS warned that it will no longer tolerate the orchestrations by subversive and unscrupulous elements to cause a breakdown of law and order in the country.
