Ohanaeze Kicks as Tinubu Declares Presidential Ambition *”your decision against Nigeria’s unity”

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President Tinubu
Asiwaju Tinubu
After months of speculation, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has formally declared his intention to run for the country’s president in 2023.
He disclosed this to journalists after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Monday.
In his interview with State House reporters, Tinubu said it has been his age-long ambition to lead the country one day.
“I have informed the President of my ambition but I have not informed Nigerians yet, I am still consulting. And I have no problem consulting. And I’ve not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people I will consult.
“You will soon hear. All you want to hear is the categorical declaration. You’ve gotten that truth from me that I have informed Mr President of my ambition, and you don’t expect more answers than that,” he said.
While the former Lagos governor could not disclose President Buhari’s position on his decision to run to journalists, his statement however, suggests the president’s compliance with his vow not to openly canvass support for any candidate.
“That’s our business. He is a democrat. He didn’t ask me to stop. He didn’t ask me not to attempt and pursue my ambition, it is a lifelong ambition. So, why do I expect him to say more than that? You are running a democratic dispensation, and you must adopt the principles and the values and the virtues of democracy. That’s it,” Tinubu said in response to a question on what transpired at the closed-door meeting with the president.
Meanwhile, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo described the declaration of Tinubu to contest the Presidency in 2023 as against the rules of natural justice as unfortunate.
It regretted that the former Lagos State governor had chosen to add to the crisis of Nigeria instead of joining hands with patriots to save the corporate existence of the country.
The spokesman for the Igbo apex body, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, who spoke to one of our correspondents while reacting to the Tinubu’s formal declaration, said,  “It is an assertion rooted in history and experience that any project that is not supported by justice and equity will not succeed.
Ogbonnia said  Tinubu knew that he was doing the wrong thing, embarking on a project that was not rooted in equity, justice and fair play.
He said “It is a project that is dead on arrival. Because God is a universal entity that he is always interested in truth, fairness and equity. So for anybody embarking on anything that is not rooted in equity and justice will not succeed and this is a countervailing force that has sustained this world from the beginning.
“So Tinubu knows that he is embarking on a cause that has no foundation in anything:  foundation in equity and justice, and of course is a project that will not succeed.”
Ohanaeze spokesman, however, said it was very unfortunate that Tinubu had decided to add to the crisis in Nigeria, adding “because there is this collective conscience that has been guiding this country. The collective conscience is to culturally determine what is right and what is wrong and to pursue the one that is right and ignore the one that is wrong.
“But all the same, those who have really gone against the convention has often lost, you know at a point General Sani Abacha wanted to continue but he lost; Goodluck Jonathan ran against the current he lost any other person that tries to go against the convention and the current will always lose it. Mr Tinubu is working across purposes with the foundations of this country – foundation rooted in equity and justice.
“He knows that this is the turn of the Igbo and instead of supporting the Igbo to emerge for peace to reign, for the corporate existence of Nigeria to remain intact, he decided adding to the problem and crisis. So for one to succeed as a matter of facts, patriots should consider the collective interest – the group interest more than self-interest. But in this case now Tinubu is more interested in self-interest. He considered self-interest above group interest or corporate existence of Nigeria. And that is selfishness at its height and any country that has such people is always in problem.