Following the exclusion of Igbo from the President-elect’s committee for the May 29 handover activities, Ohaneze Ndigbo, the largest Igbo socio-cultural organization, claimed on Tuesday that Tinubu acquired Igbo animosity from the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
The presidential inauguration is likely to be planned by a 14-member group comprised of people from across the country.
However, after going over the list, it was discovered that there was no Igbo person, which sparked outrage across political party lines in Igbo region.
In response to the news, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, national vice president of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, branded the next president as a tribalist, adding that it would be impossible for him to modify his mind regarding Igbo.
He said: “Igbophobia is in his veins and by not including Igbo people in the handover committee, he is only trying to reopen old wounds.
“He inherited the hatred Buhari has against Igbo, especially when the President-elect has said he will continue from where the incumbent president stopped.
“He said he will continue with Buhari policies and our question is, what is he continuing?
“Is it to continue the marginalisation of a particular ethnic group?
“Ohanaeze has not even accepted his election and whatever he is doing is personal to him. What we know is that those who want to divide Nigeria will surely fail.
“Ohanaeze is not in a hurry to recognise Tinubu as the President-elect because any house built on a faulty foundation is bound to collapse.
“We believe that the process of the 2023 presidential election is still on.
“The voting has been done and the court has taken over and until the outcome of the court process is known, we cannot take a stand on the 2023 election.”
The Ohanaeze leader said Tinubu’s route of disunity is regrettable, adding that while some Igbo people may believe they are on his side, there is a proverb that an injury to one Igbo man is an injury to all Igbo.
Okeke-Ogene stated that the Imeobi Ohaneze will meet on Sunday to make major choices regarding the future leadership of Ohaneze.
He further stated that the issue of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu appearing has not arisen since the Imeobi will make the decision.
“For now, people can speculate on anything but Ohanaeze has a constitution and there are high expectations that things will work out well after the Imeobi meeting on Sunday,” he said.
