Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council president receives death threats for congratulating Tinubu

OHANAEZE Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide Mazi Okwu Nnabuike has revealed that he has started receiving death threats because he recently congratulated Nigeria's president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) subsequently declared Asiwaju Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner. Among the other main gladiators in the contest were Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Inec chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as the returning officer for the presidential election, declared Asiwaju Tinubu the victor of the contest with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes and Governor Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes. On May 29, President-elect Tinubu is going to be sworn-in in line with the dictates of Nigeria's constitution but the PDP and the Labour Party are challenging the elections in court.

After being declared winner, Asiwaju Tinubu left Nigeria for France on Tuesday, March 21 to rest and plan the transition programme ahead of his inauguration and only returned last Monday. Welcoming him back, Mazi Nnabuike said the time of electioneering was over and pointed out that the Igbo youths congratulate Asiwaju Tinubu on his victory at the keenly-contested elections.

He added that it was time to close ranks and work with the president-elect to restore the lost hopes and glory of the country, pointing out that the time for politicking is over. Furthermore, he said proponents of an interim government should jettison such an idea as Nigeria has to move forward regardless of how anyone feels about the outcome of the polls.

Mazi Nnabuike said: “Some persons who are annoyed that I congratulated the president-elect have set the machinery in motion to take me out of the way. They are employing every means, including using the Department of State Security and other security agencies to make sure that I am cajoled and silenced.

“What is wrong that I congratulated the president-elect? Is Ohanaeze now a political party? There are Igbo people in APC, PDP and the Labour Party and we are serving the interest of the entire Igbo regardless of their political affiliations.

“Like I said earlier, Bola Tinubu is the president-elect and he will be inaugurated on May 29. The aggrieved parties are in court and until the petitions are decided, we all have to support Tinubu to move the country forward.”

He added that he remained unshaken and would never yield to the intimidation by some selfish persons who do not mean well for Ndigbo. Mazi Nnabuike said he is putting the entire nation on notice that should anything happen to him, the sources of the attacks are known.