The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Tuesday in Enugu expressed dismay at the court action instituted against the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Chief Innocent Chukwuma by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The organisation said the court action in which Chukwuma is being charged, for obtaining customs documents through fraudulent means was diversionary and intended persecute the automobile manufacturer.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emeka Attamah, the apex Igbo organisation insisted to that the action was yet another attempt at hounding another son of Igboland.
“Cognisant of the matter in court and without any pretense to the veracity of the case or otherwise, Ohanaeze Ndigbo views the current travails of Chukwuma as yet another attempt at hounding another son of Igboland who, out of personal enterprise and dint of hardwork, has helped in shaping the economic and industrial fortunes of Nigeria.
“Ohanaeze frowns at this recent attempt to obfuscate the clear court victory won by Innoson’s Group in a crucial suit against a leading bank in the country,” Attamah noted.
The organisation said the current twist in the whole affair was a deliberate attempt to put Chukwuma on the defensive in a matter that clearly vindicates him and confers a lot of financial advantage on him and taint his reputation by introducing a criminal angle to an already settled civil proceedings.
“Ohanaeze is carefully studying this discriminatory treatment of his adversaries and the law enforcement agents with a view to reviewing the patronage of our people to any economic establishment found to be associated in this new criminal assault of Chukwuma.
“We will no longer be prepared to do business with any organization that denigrates the best of our people,” the organisation stated.
