Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, has stated that the Igbos have no desire to join opposition political parties.
Following Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi’s petition at the Presidential Election Tribunal, the group warned Ndigbos to brace themselves for the worst.
Ohanaeze, on the other hand, stated that Obi should be commended for choosing to fight for his mandate.
Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, told the Daily Post that Obi should be commended for his efforts thus far.
He did, however, warn Igbos to tread carefully because they cannot oppose the government in power.
According to Isiguzoro:
I want to use this opportunity to commend Peter Obi for fighting a good fight in the struggle to ensure that an Igbo man becomes the president of Nigeria, even though he never ran as an Igbo candidate, but as a Nigerian project.
As a first timer, he ran against some veterans and pulled a lot of surprises that rattled the old political order in Nigeria. Coming into a party under nine months and winning in some states is a good move.
But, at this point in time, Ndigbo must prepare their minds to accept the worst, even as Obi has gone to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory. At this point, Igbos must be very conscious not to allow what happened in 2015 to happen in 2023.
After the 2015 election, Ohanaeze Ndigbo was at the forefront supporting the ex-president against Buhari despite trying severally to see the Ohanaeze’s leadership led by Joe Nworgu and Gari Iwe.
Fast forward to 2023, Ndigbo are not ready to be in an opposition political party, it has never been in our culture to play opposition politics, and in our wisdom, we vowed to help Obi sort out his constitutional right by challenging Tinubu’s victory at the tribunal.