‘We Remain Firmly Behind Tinubu’s Govt, INEC’

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, a prominent Igbo socio-cultural group, has expressed support for President Bola Tinubu‘s government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The group advocated for electoral reforms through the National Assembly, while rejecting any involvement in planned protests targeting INEC, urging those behind the plot to abandon it.

Also, the Igbo group advised the Labour Party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, to accept the election results and move on.

According to Daily Post, a group, the South Unity Youth Coalition, declared plans for a large-scale demonstration on June 12, Democracy Day, to call for the ousting of Professor Mahmoud Yakubu from his position as Chairman of the INEC.

The coalition alleges that Professor Yakubu’s leadership has significantly undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.

Meanwhile, Obi, in his Saturday response to South Africa’s presidential election, reiterated his claim that the preceding general election in Nigeria was marred by fraud and widespread irregularities.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide’s National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, deplored the persistent fixation of numerous Nigerian politicians on the 2023 general elections, calling for their cooperation with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government to propel the nation forward.

Nnabuike expressed concern that, “instead, what we have continued to see is that politicians and some of their paid agents have continued to fan embers of discord in the country owing to the outcome of the elections.

“We have said for the umpteenth time that there is no perfect election anywhere in the world.

“Our appeal to our brother, His Excellency Mr Peter Obi is to accept not just the outcome of the election, but the verdict of the apex court in the land, the Supreme Court.

“In the case of the 2023 election, without sounding biased, it is a wrong conclusion for anyone to say that the INEC performed woefully.

“This cannot be so, when the court upheld the majority of the election and in some of the cases where elections were annulled, it had to do with candidates’ qualifications and some other issues that could not be blamed on the INEC.”

Nnabuike urged those plotting protests to reconsider, emphasizing that Igbo youths would not be manipulated into supporting such a self-serving agenda intended to inflame political tensions.

“Igbo youths are not going to be lured into such a selfish agenda aimed at heating up the polity.

“Rather, we remain firmly behind President Bola Tinubu’s government and INEC. We welcome further reforms to the electoral process through the National Assembly.

“Any form of protest, we are not going to be a party to it, and those behind the plot should jettison it,” he stressed.