Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, an elder statesman, was approved as the new President-General.
He will finish Prof George Obiozor’s term, which began on January 10, 2021 but ended on December 26, 2022.
Iwuanyanwu committed to try to improve regional security, emphasizing the critical need for a peace summit.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), before May 29.
The new Ndigbo leader feels Kanu is critical to any dialogue and that negotiating peace while he is imprisoned will be impossible.
“It is also important to note that the judiciary has discharged and freed Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“It will be the joy of many Igbo people and Nigerians to see Mazi Nnamdi Kalu released from detention.
“There is also a report that his health is deteriorating. I feel it is important that he is released to have access to his medical doctors so that he does not die in prison,” Iwuanyanwu said.
According to him, having carefully examined the circumstances of Ndigbo, he would also focus on education, agriculture, industrialisation, electricity, power generation and health.
The Ohanaeze leader vowed to ensure that the Southeast gets an additional state, the region being the only region with five.
He said: “Several political conferences have recommended the creation of additional state in the Southeast to bring the number to six. So far, this has not been actualised.
“I will make sure that during my tenure, an additional state is created for the Southeast.”
Iwuanyanwu described the event as a remarkable day in his life, noting that all his life, he had done his best to serve both in times of war and of peace.
He said he did not nurture the ambition to be the President General of Ohanaeze.
“Instead, I had the ambition of becoming the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I contested for the Presidency on three occasions but I did not succeed.
“I took my losses in good composure knowing full well that as a Christian, all powers and promotion come from God.
“But today (yesterday), destiny has placed squarely on my shoulders the duty of leading the Igbos as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
“I, therefore, have a duty to valiantly defend the Igbo course and I promise Ime-Obi and all Igbo people that by the grace of God I will not fail them,” he said.
Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Chukwuma Soludo (Anambra) participated in the Ime-Obi sitting of Ohanaeze at the old government house lodge in Enugu, where Iwuanyanwu was presented and ratified as the new Igbo leader.
Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi, his Imo and Abia States counterparts Hope Uzodimma and Okezie Ikpeazu were represented by their deputies, Kelechi Igwe, Prof. Placid Njoku and Sir Ude Oko Chukwu.
Also at the event were Enugu governor-elect, Peter Mbah; Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Peter Obi; former governor Imo of State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim; former Presidents-General of Ohanaeze led by Chief Nnia Nwodo, former minister of Health, Prof. ABC Nwosu, among others.
Imeobi is the highest decision-making organ of the Ohanaeze.
The 80-year-old politician was earlier this month presented to Uzodimma by a delegation of the Imo Elders Council as the consensus candidate to replace Obiozor.