The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, has pledged to back President-elect Bola Tinubu until a competent court rules otherwise.
The Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, revealed this while urging Tinubu to reach out to other presidential candidates in the spirit of fairness.
Isiguzoro congratulated Tinubu on his victory in Saturday’s presidential election in an interview with DAILY POST.
He lamented, however, that the recently concluded presidential election was flawed.
According to Isiguzoro: “Democracy has come to stay, [and] irrespective that INEC has not lived up to its expectation and people are not happy with the outcome of this election, we don’t have any option but to congratulate APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu on his victory as the winner of the 2023 election.”
“Ndigbo are major players in Nigeria’s economy, politics and otherwise. Nigeria belongs to all of us, and Tinubu must reach out to other contestants in the spirit of fairness. No place in the world where the election is perfect, the election was once rigged in the US, but at this moment, we will continue to support those who have emerged victorious in the spirit of the Southern presidency.”
“We are aware that with the outcome of this election, there is going to be a transition of power from the North to Southern presidency which is the position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; what Ohanaeze campaigned for in 2023 was that power must shift from the North to the South; and we had two candidates – Tinubu and Peter Obi – and the favourite of Nigeria was Obi; however, the devil we know is better than the angel that did not win.”
“We are not saying Tinubu is the devil, but we are going to manage him until any court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise that the election was flawed. Ohanaeze will identify with Tinubu until any court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise.”