\u201cI\u2019m a Muslim, I can never enter a Church,\u201d so said the Consul-General of Nigeria in New York, Mr. Habib Abba Habu, responding to complaints from Nigerians that the Consulate never responded to the deaths of five Nigerians in a tragic and ghastly accident on the 21st of July, 2012.<\/p>\n
The accident had rocked the consciousness of Americans throughout the country by its sheer ghastliness and tragedy that claimed the lives of three women and two children in New York.\u00a0 The news had spread like wildfire not only the mainstream media, but on broadcast television, radio and the internet.\u00a0 Nigerians from all over the United States and outside expressed deep sadness and felt great shock at this tragedy that befell Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Those who died include Ms. Eucha Okafor-Mba Mcxdonald, Ms. Nnenna Obioha, Ms. Okwudiri Christina Onyekwu Epton, Miss Adaobi Ovbioha (8) and Master Nwaebube (Ebube) Okafor-Mba (9).<\/p>\n
When we started getting complaints that the Nigerian Consulate-General in New York did not once react to this tragedy, did not visit the surviving accident victims at the hospital, never replied to a letter from the President of the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America (An Umbrella union of all Arondizuogu people\u00a0 \u2013 an Igbo ethnic group) resident in the North America, nor did they send anybody to the wake-keeping on Friday, July 10, in the Bronx, New York, we\u00a0 decided to get the Nigerian Consul-General, Mr. Habib Abba Habu, to respond to the allegations.<\/p>\n
We called Mr. Habu several times, and after not reaching him,\u00a0 sent him a text message, thus \u201cHi, have called several times to get your part that the consulate refused to play any role in the ghastly death of five Nigerians in new york. Thanks.\u00a0 Chika Onyeani.\u201d\u00a0 After not receiving a reply, we\u00a0 called Mr. Habu\u2019s secretary, who said he was on the other line.\u00a0 we explained to her why we\u00a0 were calling and she promised that he would call\u00a0 back immediately he got off the phone.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0 Mr. Habu called back, We\u00a0 explained to him the reason we called was , that we\u00a0 wanted to find out what Nigerians in the New York area were saying, that the Consulate did not react to the tragic death of five Nigerians which made national news in America, that he didn\u2019t visit or send his representative to visit the surviving victims of the accident, and that he didn\u2019t participate in the wake-keeping on Friday, July 10th.<\/p>\n
Before we\u00a0 could even finish, Mr. Habu shot back\u00a0 angrily stated and , \u201cMr. Onyeani, I am a Muslim, I can never enter a church.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 we then asked\u00a0 \u201cMr. Habu, you are the Consul-General of Nigeria, not the Consul-General of Nigerian Muslims, and your predecessors, whether Muslims or Christians or any other religion, have taken to visit Nigerians whether in the church or in the mosque.\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cWell, they are they, and I am me, I can never enter a church.\u201d<\/p>\n
We then said to Mr. Habu, \u201cwe\u00a0 don\u2019t really believe you are saying this , and we are\u00a0 going to be writing about this.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d he replied, \u201cI don\u2019t really care if you write about it, Chief Onyeani.\u201d\u00a0 Then he thought again, and said\u00a0 \u201cmaybe I didn\u2019t say it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to sending somebody to represent him at the wake-keeping, which was not even held at a church but at a center at Coop City in the Bronx in New York, Mr. Habu alleged that he sent somebody.\u00a0 But Rev. David Kayode, who worked tirelessly with the family and the people of Arondizuogu in securing a place and who most of the New York media called to find out what was going on with the funeral arrangements, disputed Mr. Habu\u2019s assertion because he was the individual who read the names of all the government officials and politicians who were there.<\/p>\n
He rattled off some of the people, apart a huge number of Nigerians who showed up, including representatives of the Office of the Bronx Borough President, New York Police Commissioner\u2019s office, Human Resources Administration, New York State Assembly people and several others.<\/p>\n
Checking further to make sure that there was no mistake regarding Mr. Habu\u2019s assertion, we called Mr. Nnamdi Akamnonu, President of the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America.\u00a0 He stated that in the course of the wake-keeping, somebody came and told him that there was somebody from the Consulate waiting outside who wanted to speak to him.<\/p>\n
He said he asked them to walk the individual in, but the individual refused to walk in.\u00a0 He then decided to go and meet with the person.\u00a0 Said Mr. Akamnonu, \u201cI saw a young man in shorts with a tee shirt on, and I invited him in, but he said he didn\u2019t want to come in, that he had a message from the Consulate, that they had received my letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that was all the message he had to deliver and didn\u2019t have a written reply to my letter to the Consul-General, informing him that the wake-peeing was going to be at Coop City in the Bronx.\u201d\u00a0 By the way, Coop City is not a church.<\/p>\n
Culled from African Funtimes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI\u2019m a Muslim, I can never enter a Church,\u201d so said the Consul-General of Nigeria in New York, Mr. Habib Abba Habu, responding to complaints from Nigerians that the Consulate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n