A women’s group, Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo has joined the rising number of voices who have condemned the altercation on Friday, 18 March between former Anambra First Lady, Ebelechukwu Obiano and the widow of the ex-Biafran warlord, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu.
The squabble which resulted in a physical slap to the face of Obiano by Ojukwu was at the inauguration ceremony of the newly sworn-in administration of Professor Chukwuma Soludo at Awka, Anambra State.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, the Igbo Women Professionals group, Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo, they expressed disappointment “that such an incident happened in an event that is supposed to be a unifying factor for Ndi Anambra and Ndigbo.”
The full text of the statement reads:
We at Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo would again wish to congratulate the new governor of Anambra state, Prof. Charles Soludo on his inauguration. We listened to his speech and pray that he will be true to most of his promises one of which is to be a servant-leader who has come to show that politics must not be left to self-styled ‘professional politicians’ without second addresses.
We look forward to the changes he has promised to bring and we will pray with and for him to succeed. We pray also that his team would buy into his vision and work as a team. We as NKATA women would always promote nkata – dialogue and communication for peace and progress.
We however condemn the show of shame between the wife of former governor Willy Obiano, Ebelechukwu Obiano and Bianca Ojukwu, the widow of late Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
As women, we are disappointed that such an incident happened in an event that is supposed to be a unifying factor for Ndi Anambra and Ndigbo especially women as we have been praying for the peaceful transition of power in our states in the South East that has been a victim of political and social renegades for long.We regret that the former governor’s wife did not carry with her the dignity of her former office and person in her provocative action. She was late for an event she was supposed to be one of the principal actors and went from her seat to go and assault Bianca where she was seated. She is seen on a viral video calling Bianca ‘Ashawo’ which means prostitute. That is very uncivil of her and it goes against the root of what we at Nkata have been preaching, that women must beyond screaming feminism treat each other with dignity, respect, humility and love and thereby teach men how to treat us.
On the part of Bianca, we understand the provocation but we would have felt that as the name of the new governor implies, she could have SOLU UDO… follow peace by keeping calm in the face of provocation. If as is being alleged she actually slapped the ex-first lady, that too does not promote peace. There are times our restraint in the face of provocation shows inner and admirable strength. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
For those men and women alleging that that is how women behave, we at Nkata of course wish to disassociate ourselves as women from the unfortunate incident. We see the acts as human acts and not necessarily peculiar to women. A provocation is a human act, retaliation is a human act and both are not gender-sensitive. We know those who kill each other for politics and boundaries…who unleash violence on the world daily.
We, therefore, wish to state unequivocally that we at Nkata believe in dialogue as a means of communication even in the face of provocation. Nkata means conversation and that is what we as a group can never be tired of preaching. Communication is key to human relationships and we can only achieve a peaceful co-existence with genuine dialogue born out of respect and love.
We hope the two women who both should be beacons given their social status can redeem their images through the age-old Nkata Ndi Inyom as women and mothers. They can’t afford to be bad examples to their children and admirers. We look forward to a peaceful settlement of this very unfortunate incident and hope they would be humble enough to apologize to the new governor Prof. Soludo, Anambra and all Nigerians for such an undignified display and distraction at such an important event.
Nnedinso Ogaziechi
National Publicity Secretary
Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo (NNII)
