Chekwas Okorie
UNITED Progressive Party (UPP) presidential candidate Chief Chekwas Okorie has described Ohaneze Ndigbo as acting scandalously for throwing its weight behind President Goodluck Jonathan in the forthcoming elections without getting anything in return.
With Nigeria’s presidential elections due on March 28, the two-horse race between President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate General Muhammadu Buhari is heating up. Pan-cultural Igbo group Ohaneze Ndigbo has decided to back President Jonathan and adopt him as its candidate.
Chief Okorie said: “When it comes to politics, this kind of thing has always happens. Even though what Ohaneze has done this time is a little scandalous, as it has not been different from what has always happened in Nigerian politics especially the Igbo politics aspect of it.
“During the Second Republic people will remember very well that almost every Igbo political leader was in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and they were all fighting for number two position. It was so bad that what the NPN did was to decide to give it to any Igbo man provided that he brings N2m at that time and it was for the highest bidder and that was how Alex Ekwueme being an extremely successful contractor and consultant paid.”
According to Chief Okorie, at the time, Dr Ekwueme did not become running mate because Igbo people sponsored him but because he out-paid the others. He added that this was what prompted Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe to come out because he had already stated that he was not going to run.
He added that when Dr Azikiwe saw his people clamouring for the number two position, he could not reconcile it with the fact that he led the struggle for independence. Chief Okorie added that this was why Dr Azikiwe entered the race late and chose to join the smallest of the parties at the time, the Nigeria Peoples Party, which was founded by Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim.
Asked why he did not go to a big party where all his associates were waiting for him, Chief Okorie said his people were better off being a majority in a minority party where their voice would be heard, rather than being the minority in a majority party where they would be assimilated without trace. Saying he is not disappointed by what Ohaneze Ndigbo is doing, Chief Okorie said he feels sorry for his Igbo people.
He added that what has happened is that Ohaneze is simply hawking endorsement as if it is hawking pure or sachet water. According to Chief Okorie, an endorsement should be a logical outcome of a negotiated understanding contained in a written memorandum of understanding.
“There are so many problems confronting the Igbo people that any patriotic, caring Pan-Igbo organisation will present on the table and have it negotiated and as a result of that, endorsement will come. Look at Afenifere, they are now telling you the reason they are supporting the government which is a justifiable endorsement but what did Ohaneze say?”
“Is it not scandalous that the umbrella organization that is supposed to speak for the interest of Igbo people has made itself so cheap? This is not the first time Ohaneze is doing this, as it did it in 2011 but at that time, there was no opposition and people could get away with it but now, the situation is different,” Chief Okorie added.
