Igboezue asks FG to end further victimization, distraction of Innoson auto production
No doubt, current economic realities in Nigeria are not so good for manufacturing outfits considering the state of forex access and rising costs of production.
However, when the above shortcomings are placed side-by-side with what can be traced to be alleged intimidation and harassment by an agency of the Federal Government, it then leaves much to be desired after all.
The scenario painted is exactly what the founder and core indigenous investor in Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company, Chief Innocent Chukwuma had been suffering ever since Malian government delegation visited the Nnewi based company and placed order for the purchase of about 400 vehicles.
The situation has therefore forced leading South East socio-cultural, the Igboezue International Association Nigeria and the Diaspora (IIAND), to ask President Muhammadu Buhari to step into alleged intimidation and harassment of Chief Innocent Chukwuma by one of the agencies of the Federal Government.
The group warned that it will not tolerate further victimization, frustrating attempts and pull-them-down efforts targeted against some successful Igbo businessmen, particularly the one against the chairman of Innoson Group of Companies, Chief Chukwuma.
IIAND in a statement by its President General, Chief Pius Okoye said it has painstakingly watched the ordeal some Igbo business men are being subjected to in Nigeria and is shocked with the one currently being meted on Chief Chukwuma who has employed over five thousand people in his different industries, including IVM.
IIAND expressed shock that an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria will make itself an available tool of a financial institution that has abundantly benefitted from patronage of Ndigbo, Anambra and Nnewi people, particularly the home-town of Chief Chukwuma to vilify, intimidate, harass and frustrate the industrialist.
IIAND stressed that “We the Igboezue International Association, Nigeria and the Diaspora, are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari- led Federal Government to intervene in Chief Chukwuma’s ordeal. We are convinced that those who are sponsoring the antagonism against Chief Chukwuma are people and establishments who are threatened by his exploits in motor manufacturing in Nigeria”.
