Mr. Osita Okechukwu, a member of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, tells IHUOMA CHIEDOZIE why the organisation should not endorse President Goodluck Jonathan

A motion for Jonathan’s endorsement as the Igbo candidate in the 2015 presidential election was scuttled at the Ime-Obi (leadership caucus) meeting of Ohanaeze Ndigbo on January 3. As one of those who kicked against the motion, why do you think Jonathan should not be endorsed?
Actually, it was on the 9th of November 2014 that they first mooted the idea to endorse President Jonathan. In that Ime-Obi, which is like a caucus meeting of the Ohanaeze, we said Ohanaeze was like a polygamous father with many children and many wives. A polygamous father has to consult more than a father that is married to only one wife. Ohanaeze is a father that is running many households: we have the Peoples Democratic Party, we have the All Progressives Congress, we have the United Progressive Party that even has an Igbo as the presidential candidate in Chief Chekwas Okorie; we have other political parties that also have Igbo people. We said it didn’t make any political sense, strategically, to endorse President Jonathan.

We had to insist on a counter motion. In the shouting match that ensued, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s motion could not be passed and it wasn’t even seconded. It will be stupid for the Igbo nation to endorse President Jonathan because as it stands today, nobody knows who will win. It is not like in 2011 when General Muhammadu Buhari was running with the Congress for Progressive Change which did not have much spread nationwide. Today, the APC now has broad movement and followership in all the nooks and crannies of the country, just like the PDP. So we said it didn’t make sense to support one party.

Is this why you want Ohanaeze to withdraw its support for Jonathan?
Again, there is the checklist of expectations by the Igbo, which President Jonathan, in the course of the campaign before the 2011 general elections, agreed to fulfill. We talked of revamping the Enugu coal, but six years down the line President Jonathan has not done so. They even promised the Enugu coal will be used for a coal-fired power plant to supply at least 1000 mega watts of electricity. That had not been done. We had expected that six years after Jonathan became President the power plant would have started; it could have helped the Igbo and other Nigerians. Even the international airport he claimed to have built cannot actually be called an international airport because the British Airways, Lufthansa, can’t come there. If there is a hub driven by coal, with the ancillary industries that will follow the production of coal, it will energise the place. He failed.

We talk of the second Niger Bridge. That is because President Jonathan, in February 2013, after visiting Imo State where he had received politicians who defected to the PDP, hopped into Onitsha to see the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe. Luckily for the Igbo people, the Obi went through his diary and remembered that Jonathan promised the Second Niger Bridge and queried him there. President Jonathan was on the defensive. We said, with all the unprecedented oil money, why did it not occur to the president to remember the second Niger Bridge earlier?

But some have commended Jonathan for favouring the South-East with political appointments.
Yes, he gave us secretary to the government of the federation; he gave us minister of finance, and other ministers but we are saying those ones are supposed to be constitutional matters —the constitution says if you become the president, you must appoint at least one minister from every state of the federation. The issue of doing us a favour does not arise and the fact that we have our son, Dr. Pius Anyim, as the SGF, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the minister of finance does not confer any advantage on us. We are not saying that the individual families have not been improved but we are not talking about families, we are talking about the generality of the Igbo race. We do not see any benefit from the Jonathan regime to warrant endorsement, and we felt it could be suicidal, given the fact that General Muhammadu Buhari and the APC were lurking in the wings, nobody could weigh who would win the presidential election. Why should we endorse one and leave the other? That was how we shut down the motion.

But an Ohanaeze chief has boasted that Ohanaeze will eventually endorse Jonathan.
Unless they do so by sitting in their houses and issuing a press statement. Ohanaeze’s constitution is very clear —even if the Ime-Obi had endorsed him, going by the constitution of Ohanaeze, it requires the ratification of the General Assembly that includes every Igbo person. It will require the General Assembly for endorsement.

What plans does Buhari have for the Igbos, has he reached out to Ohanaeze Ndigbo?
On the 7th of November, Buhari wrote to the Ohanaeze, saying he would like to have a discussion with us because he was consulting various groups and he felt the Ohanaeze was very important for him to consult. In the last paragraph of the letter, he said he would not claim to know everything that was of importance to the Igbo, that after the discussion, he would know what to say. Before the elections, he will have time to discuss with Ohanaeze.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/itll-be-stupid-for-igbos-to-endorse-jonathan-okechukwu/

K

GEJ till 2019

Even if Ohaneze Endorse GEJ,will they force me or follow all the igbos to the voting booth to know whom we'll vote for?
They had better keep their endorsement within their family members and not speak 4 the whole tribe.It won't be sooo easy 4 GEJ dis time around

All these backstabbing niggas we have in the eAst. Oh lawd save us from em.

BaddieKay:
Even if Ohaneze Endorse GEJ,will they force me or follow me to the voting booth to know whom I'll vote for?
They had better keep their endorsement within their family members and not speak 4 the whole tribe.It won't be sooo easy 4 GEJ dis time around

I swear Gej supporters have this thingy with beauty

This guys reason for not supporting jonathan is clear, he is afraid jonathan is gon loose, he better sides with a likely to win party on time. Well he should keep that ideology to himself

From all indications, Mr Jonathan is a goner.

LRNZH:


These 'backstabbers' are way more intelligent than you are

Do you have anything close to stable electricity?
Is there security in Nigeria as we speak?
Even with the highest oil price regime under any Nigerian President GEJ has the highest debt and lowest reserves amongst all PDP President's. Infact the first of the PDP President to have debt > reserves
Are refineries working?
Is the cabal still here with us in Nigeria?
CBN asserts that 80% of youths are still unemployed in 2014.
The highest level of oil bunkering in Nigeria history is under GEJ.

You need to ask yourself what are the key priorities of Nigeria. That's where you'll see the glaring failures of GEJ after 6 years.
These failures are what you wish for yourself for another 4 years.

Wow why not take a flight to abuja and lament your woes, I'm not Gej neither am I a keyboard warrior

hyfr:
Wow why not take a flight to abuja and lament your woes, I'm not Gej neither am I a keyboard warrior

You amaze us on why you still support GEJ hence the attempt to shock you into reality with that post.

At least you were shocked... Dunno if you were cured of your fantasia with a failed GEJ administration.

Someone should tell GEJ that he won't end well if he dare tamper or rig the election. The Otueke River is getting dry.. the remaining water would not be enough to to sail him back home.

GEJ Is Finished!!

Common sense demands that they lean towards a candidate that all statistics favour or else, they stand the risk of being rendered irrelevant throughout GMB's administration.
Though one for them though.

This is getting serious. If GEJ loses just 25% of the votes in every SE state, it will be very very difficult to beat Buhari.

Yet, i don't see GEJ getting the 95-99% of the votes he got from the region in 2011.

Many people who would have voted GEJ will simply stay home, which will again affect his numbers. GEJ fvcked up by taking the region for granted in projects.

cjrane:
This is getting serious. If GEJ loses just 25% of the votes in every SE state, it will be very very difficult to beat Buhari.

Yet, i don't see GEJ getting the 95-99% of the votes he got from the region in 2011.

Many people who would have voted GEJ will simply stay home, which will again affect his numbers. GEJ fvcked up by taking the region for granted in projects.

Stop it never will Igbo's forget Buhari JAILED Jim Nwobodo for 301 years and Dr Alex Ekwueme for 150 YEARS!
301 years imprisonment?That can only happen in a jungle society like the one ran by Buhari between 1983 and 1985!

‪#‎Say‬ No To BokoBuhari#

[s]

biafranqueen:
Stop it never will Igbo's forget Buhari JAILED Jim Nwobodo for 301 years and Dr Alex Ekwueme for 150 YEARS!
301 years imprisonment?That can only happen in a jungle society like the one ran by Buhari between 1983 and 1985!

‪#‎Say‬ No To BokoBuhari#

[/s]

Buhari wrote a letter to Ohaneze for discussion....wow..Nice one.

brutef0rce101:
[s][/s]

Stalker when are you going to expose me

biafranqueen:
Stalker when are you going to expose me

Stop splashing spit on me. Hows the Dada babalawo? We need his ritual for GEJ to win o. What do you think bororo?

brutef0rce101:


Stop splashing spit on me. Hows the Dada babalawo? We need his ritual for GEJ to win o. What do you think bororo?

What you need is some Onugbu tea to soak your brain cells back to normal, that stuff you're sniffing is dangerous

[s]

biafranqueen:
What you need is some Onugbu tea to soak your brain cells back to normal, that stuff you're sniffing is dangerous

[/s]

Hehehee. I trust you. You now know much about the babalawo and agbo stuff. Dada don teach you wella. Correct girl

Im not a politician. But no easterner has a justifiable reason to support Gmb. The Original Apc party structure was made up of northerners and muslims. It was when people like Fani Kayode raised alarm that they had a rethink. And i believe that a leopard cannot loose its spots. Wise up.

brutef0rce101:
[s][/s]

Hehehee. I trust you. You now know much about the babalawo and agbo stuff. Dada don teach you wella. Correct girl

Of course now you seen my pictures, original mami wata

Dear jonathanians pls don't lose sleep over the rantings of this drowning APC man masquerading as Ohaneze member.
Osita okechukwu is d spokesperson of APC in the south east zone as can be seen below

2015: Jonathan Already Showing Signs Of Desperation – S’East APC
[/b]The APC South East spokesperson, Mr. Osita Okechukwu[b], noted that President Jonathan’s speech was uncouth, unpresidential and show-cased a desperate president in his quest for a second term.
http://www.informationng.com/2014/04/2015-jonathan-already-showing-signs-of-desperation-seast-apc.html



APC should pls keep shut and not strangle us with their fake propaganda

GEJ till buhari shows us his Ibo in-laws

biafranqueen:
Of course now you seen my pictures, original mami wata

Correct girl. Nothing do you, but make you stop your attack on my tribe ooooo.

Dreal1247:
Im not a politician. But no easterner has a justifiable reason to support Gmb. The Original Apc party structure was made up of northerners and muslims. It was when people like Fani Kayode raised alarm that they had a rethink. And i believe that a leopard cannot loose its spots. Wise up.

You are correct! I am surprised that the Yorubas that love education before Igbo's, now will say who needs a certificate.

brutef0rce101:


Correct girl. Nothing do you, but make you stop your attack on my tribe ooooo.

When did I attack your tribe? Or is it my moniker. If I have in the past, forgive me it must have been during my PMS time

They should not endorse that clueless man, his campaign has been utter rubbish

MyNameIsMyName:
They should not endorse that clueless man, his campaign has been utter rubbish

Really!

biafranqueen:
Really!

it's still better than GEJ's lies since 2011 about insurgency, fuel subsidy etc. and "they are building prisons" campaigners

MyNameIsMyName:
it's still better than GEJ's lies since 2011 about insurgency, fuel subsidy etc. and "they are building prisons" campaigners

Tell ur old fool to present his certificate and prove his credibility

Clueless people don't get phd,I know dis cos I am well schooled,I suspect you're an illiterate too dats why Buhari is ur God


GEJ till buhari pass waec