Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization. Ohanaeze Ndigbo has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election as President of the Federal Republic.
Uche Okwukwu, the Secretary-General of the Organization, who addressed a press conference, Thursday in Enugu, alongside a chieftain of Ohanaeze, Prince Richard Ozobu, said Buhari’s victory was well deserved.
Prior to the 2019 presidential election, the John Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo had endorsed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as its preferred presidential candidate.
Okwukwu pointed out that the said endorsement of the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, was not the decision of Ndigbo as there was no general meeting in that regard.
He said, “The Ohanaeze Ndigbo heartily rejoices and congratulates President Muhammadu Buhari on his well-deserved victory at the Presidential polls on February 23, 2019. His victory as exposed by the majority of votes cast has clearly shown that the President has been on the right course in the last four years.
“Ndigbo are deeply happy that Mr. President secured more votes in Igboland than he got in 2015. We urge all Nigerians and the international community to accept the verdict as the election was adjudged, free, credible, transparent and peaceful and call on all not to heat up the polity through unguarded utterances and actions.”
He reeled out the situation that led to the disagreement among the hierarchy of Ohanaeze saying that it started with the commissioning of Zik’s Mausoleum.
He said most members frowned at the insistence of Nnia Nwodo in holding the Imeobi meeting on the day President Buhari was to honour Zik by commissioning the mausoleum at Onitsha.
“They disrespected Zik and ignored all the governors from the old Eastern Region who were present at commissioning.
“And the worst of it all was that they announced the endorsement on the same day without the general meeting of members.
“The decision to endorse any candidate should have attracted wide consultations and not a thing to be done in a hurry.”
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