Ohanaeze criticises Tinubu for not including Igbos in transition committee

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has criticised Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu, for not including Igbo people in his transition committee.

Mr Tinubu recently nominated 14 people to the committee to assist him achieve a smooth transition from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to his own administration on 29 May.

In the list of nominees, there was no Igbo person on the committee.

Reacting, the Vice-President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Damian Okeke-Ogene, accused the president-elect of being a “tribalist”, according to a report by Vanguard newspaper.

“Igbophobia is in his (Tinubu) veins and by not including Igbo people in the handover committee, he is only trying to reopen old wounds.

“He inherited the hatred (Muhammadu) Buhari has against Igbo, especially when the President-elect has said he will continue from where the incumbent president stopped,” Mr Okeke-Ogene was quoted as saying.

“He said he will continue with Buhari’s policies and our question is, what is he continuing? Is it to continue the marginalisation of a particular ethnic group?” he stated.

‘We’ve not yet accepted Tinubu as president-elect’

Mr Okeke-Ogene also said the apex Igbo group has not accepted the emergence of Mr Tinubu as the country’s president-elect.

“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,” he said.

“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 Ohanaeze vice-president added.