National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, believes that an Igbo man will contest the 2019 presidential election despite the belief of some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-East for the zone to wait till 2023. Felix Nwaneri reports

What do you make of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent declaration of support for Igbo presidency in 2019?

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is not the first high profile Nigerian to express such support. If you recall, former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, made a similar call in 2015, when he said that if Ndigbo will present a presidential candidate, he will support them.

Now, Obasanjo is coming from the moral point of view to say that it is high time we allow Ndigbo to lead Nigeria. If you analyse what he said; it means that all the political parties should look in the direction of the South-East for this injustice to be properly addressed. But the way Nigeria is structured, it is only Jesus Christ, who will come out as an Igbo man and win a presidential nomination in a major political party, except that party, had as a matter of deliberate policy, zoned its ticket to the South-East.

But, an aspirant’s track record can earn him acceptability across the country…

Following the Electoral Act, which came into operation in 1999, delegates to the national convention to elect a presidential candidate are drawn in equal number from the 774 local government areas that we have in Nigeria.

The South-East has only 95 local governments, while the North-West, for instance, has 188 local governments. In a Nigeria, where ethnic and religious sentiments tend to influence the attitude of voters, how will a South- East candidate, no matter his profile, win a presidential nomination of a major party?

That was why former Vice President Alex Ekwueme lost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket in 1999, likewise every other Igbo person, who has vied for the presidential ticket of his party since 1999. So, I don’t know how Obasanjo envisaged that his supposedly wish for Ndigbo will come about.

At the moment, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has an incumbent from the North, who barring any unforeseen circumstance will have the right of first refusal as far as second term is concerned.

Also, the two factions of the PDP have all zoned their 2019 presidential tickets to the North. And the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is fond of adopting PDP presidential candidates. They did it in 2011 and 2015. In fact, it was under my leadership of APGA that Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was able to run for the presidency of this country.

How feasible is the Igbo presidency project in 2019 since you have foreclosed the South-East’s chance of contesting on the platform of the two major parties?

It was only the United Progressives Party (UPP) that had as a matter of party policy in the last elections zoned its ticket to the South-East. And because the party will do it again, an Igbo man will run for president in 2019, God willing.

So, Obasanjo should come out sincerely and urge Nigerians to support that Igbo man, who will come out from UPP in the event that APC and PDP fail to present presidential candidates from the South-East. And let me make this pledge; if either APC or PDP presents a presidential candidate from the South- East, I will canvass within my party to adopt that candidate.

Don’t you read politics into Obasanjo’s support given that he has his way of rocking the boat any time he loses out in the power play at the centre?

One cannot rule politics from his position whether he is aggrieved or not, but he only expressed his personal view, he is not dictating for anybody. Because of his stature, he is beginning to assume the position of one whose views are policy pronouncements.

My advice is that Ndigbo should coalesce under a party they control its leadership to produce a presidential candidate and go into alliance with other parties to support that candidate; that is the way to go.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe made a major foray into the Middle Belt and got Plateau State to be part of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) in the Second Republic. We can do better than that base on the current awareness of the Nigerian populace.

But Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State is of the view that Ndigbo should support President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term and work on having one of their own succeeding him in 2023?

Okorocha should stop being dishonest to the Igbo people; that will not be tolerated. I am not threatening him, but he should stop misleading his people. There is nowhere that the APC had a zoning arrangement that 2023 would be the turn of Ndigbo to produce its presidential ticket.

If that is so, let him publish it for us to see. All of us are aware that the PDP, through the Senator Ike Ekweremadu committee, recommended the zoning of the party’s 2019 presidential ticket to the North.

That is PDP’s policy statement, approved by its national executive and ratified by a convention. So, I challenge Okorocha to make public APC’s zoning arrangement, which cedes its 2023 presidential ticket to the South-East. Whether he likes it not, an Igbo man will contest the 2019 presidential election, I can assure him of that

https://newtelegraphonline.com/politics/igbo-manll-contest-2019-presidency-okorie/

gbam

100 %

afi upp naa. another kowa. shior.

Why some like to dey deceive others, themselves and some gullible people?

well.. wedonesir

j

Of cos an igbo man will contest, but will his fellow igbo men support him? Will he get a good number of vote from the east? We're seeing signs already that he won't get up to a million vote from the whole east. Sell outs Oshi

No more Biafra? Silly clowns
They've always contest though but always failed

Igbos candidates have been contesting consistently for the presidency since 2003, so, it's nothing new if they contest again in 2019.

Igbos will prefer Hausa fulani to Biafran, just as they preferred Yar'adua to Ojukwu. Igbos! you are your own problem. Go and solve your problem

mtceew and so
We have been deceiving ourselves and making caricatures of ourselves before our haters.

For people saying shit about Biafra here. Know that not all I southeast/ south south are in support of Biafra but the majority, I mean 80% is really in support of it.

So don't masturbate when you one derailed individual from the zone say shit about Biafra

Our People have been short changed For Long in the Structure of the Nigeria State Since after the End of the Brutal Civil war we have been treated as a Conquered spoils of war.
But this Defeatist Mentality Must Stop our fore fathers found Nigeria watered in the Blood of their Nationalist struggle against the British Imperialist thrust into Africa . The Back ward North and The Cowardice West Must Not continue to rule and perpetually subjugate us . Join this Political revolution , Join the United Progressive Party UPP, Join Team Tiger. Make Anambra Great Again 2017

hmuhammad:
Igbos will prefer Hausa fulani to Biafran, just as they preferred Yar'adua to Ojukwu. Igbos! you are your own problem. Go and solve your problem

So they "preferred" Yaradua to Ojukwu? Tell me something! The same igbo people you lot accuse of "hate politics" because they voted for an Ijaw man- Jonathan and a fulani man Sambo against Buhari while 'super patriots' voted only for your sons Buhari and Osibande?

owobokiri:


So they "preferred" Yaradua to Ojukwu? Tell me something! The same igbo people you lot accuse of "hate politics" because they voted for an Ijaw man- Jonathan and a fulani man Sambo against Buhari while 'super patriots' voted only for your sons Buhari and Osibande?

is Jonathan an Igbo man? Read my comment very well.

hmuhammad:
is Jonathan an Igbo man? Read my comment very well.

You are just trying to set up a trap. If they vote only for igbos, you will be the first to come here and accuse them of chronic tribalism... Head or tail, they should always loose, right?

Well said Okorocha should stop deceiving Igbos about 2023. Nigerian politics depends so much on regional collusion than party loyalty. What if another party comes up before then.

You people have the problem of leadership. Get your house in order.

He will lose like Ojukwu

which kind igbo

Tifemide2017:
Even Ojukwu contested in 2003 and they(Igbos) disappointingly gave him a meagre 1 million vote.

Igbos should first get their houses in order.

That goes to show you that Igbos dont play politics of tribalism which most of you Nigerians do.

If Igbo could reject their revered late leader, Dim Ojukwu, for an Hausa man....

If Igbos could reject fellow Igbos such Chekwas Okorie and Onovo in favour of an Ijaw man......

It means that Igbos have risen above petty tribal politics.



Nigeria has had "Igbo President", "Yoruba President", "Hausa President", "Fulani President", "Ijaw President"

But Nigeria is still a highly messed up place. Thats why I hope that my fellow Igbos will forget this useless office of president of Nigeria which has never helped anyone. There are better things for the Igbo nation to aspire to.

Nigeria does not work as a nation so whatever ethnic connotation is given to its presidency has no meaning

[s]

zendy:


That goes to show you that Igbos dont play politics of tribalism which most of you Nigerians do.

If Igbo could reject their revered late leader, Dim Ojukwu, for an Hausa man....

If Igbos could reject fellow Igbos such Chekwas Okorie and Onovo in favour of an Ijaw man......

It means that Igbos have risen above petty tribal politics.



Nigeria has had "Igbo President", "Yoruba President", "Hausa President", "Fulani President", "Ijaw President"

But Nigeria is still a highly messed up place. Thats why I hope that my fellow Igbos will forget this useless office of president of Nigeria which has never helped anyone. There are better things for the Igbo nation to aspire to.

Nigeria does not work as a nation so whatever ethnic connotation is given to its presidency has no meaning

[/s]
Spare me that, you guys play politics of emotions and hatred.

Because Buhari is a northern Muslim, you gave over 90% of your votes to a man( a Xtian Southerner bearing Ebele Azikiwe) who could not point out one commissioned road he constructed for your region in his 5 years as president.

seunmsg:
Igbos candidates have been contesting consistently for the presidency since 2003, so, it's nothing new if they contest again in 2019.

Help me tell them.

owobokiri:


You are just trying to set up a trap. If they vote only for igbos, you will be the first to come here and accuse them of chronic tribalism... Head or tail, they should always loose, right?

igbos hate themselves, just accept it

Its his right. No one can deny him that.

But he's not going to win.

That's the fact.

zendy:



That goes to show you that Igbos dont play politics of tribalism which most of you Nigerians do.


If Igbo could reject their revered late leader, Dim Ojukwu, for an Hausa man....

If Igbos could reject fellow Igbos such Chekwas Okorie and Onovo in favour of an Ijaw man......

It means that Igbos have risen above petty tribal politics.



Nigeria has had "Igbo President", "Yoruba President", "Hausa President", "Fulani President", "Ijaw President"

But Nigeria is still a highly messed up place. Thats why I hope that my fellow Igbos will forget this useless office of president of Nigeria which has never helped anyone. There are better things for the Igbo nation to aspire to.

Nigeria does not work as a nation so whatever ethnic connotation is given to its presidency has no meaning

@bolded, can you tell us why you guys voted enmass for Jonathan despite the fact that he did nothing to alleviate the poverty of your region?

Ioannes:


@bolded, can you tell us why you guys voted enmass for Jonathan despite the fact that he did nothing to alleviate the poverty of your region?

Because between GEJ and Buhari, we felt GEJ was better. We have been prooved right sinxe then because things have gone from bad to worse since Buhari came in.

zendy:


Because between GEJ and Buhari, we felt GEJ was better. We have been prooved right sinxe then because things have gone from bad to worse since Buhari came in.

And you cannot make the connection between emptying the treasury then and today's hunger and suffering? Interesting.

GEJ was better? In what way exactly? Was it the electricity problem he fixed, or was it the security issue he managed probably? Or maybe it was the fact that he fought corruption to a standstill.

I'm sure he handed over an improved infrastructure across the landscape of the country to Buhari. Right?

Maybe we should talk about the many jobs he created for the youths and how unemployment rate has really come down.

Agriculture was booming during his time so much that we became exporters of rice right? Don't even let us talk about education and health. All indices used to monitor a nation's development.

Ioannes:


And you cannot make the connection between emptying the treasury then and today's hunger and suffering? Interesting.

GEJ was better? In what way exactly? Was it the electricity problem he fixed, or was it the security issue he managed probably? Or maybe it was the fact that he fought corruption to a standstill.

I'm sure he handed over an improved infrastructure across the landscape of the country to Buhari. Right?

Maybe we should talk about the many jobs he created for the youths and how unemployment rate has really come down.

Agriculture was booming during his time so much that we became exporters of rice right? Don't even let us talk about education and health. All indices used to monitor a nation's development.

Things have generally gone from bad to worse since Buhari came to power. The way some of you Buhari supporters were shouting 'change', some of us thought that you guys meant change for the better.

Granted that GEJ's tenure was not the best in world, however, I have no doubt in my mind that if Nigerians are asked to choose between GEJ's time and Buhari's present tenure, most will choose GEJ's tenure.

Nigerians never had it so bad, the common man has never seen this level of suffering since the dawn of time.

Tifemide2017:
[s][/s]
Spare me that, you guys play politics of emotions and hatred.

Because Buhari is a northern Muslim, you gave over 90% of your votes to a man( a Xtian Southerner bearing Ebele Azikiwe) who could not point out one commissioned road he constructed for your region in his 5 years as president.

Well considering the disaster which Buharis regime has become, Im happy that Igbos made the right decision.

Things have gotten progressively worse since GEJ left, no more 'Sai baba' any more.

[quote author=zendy post=53384909]

Things have generally gone from bad to worse since Buhari came to power. The way some of you Buhari supporters were shouting 'change', some of us thought that you guys meant change for the better.

Oh is that so and you don't know why things have generally gone from bad to worse? I choose not to educate you. If you truly want to know the internet is open to everyone.

Granted that GEJ's tenure was not the best in world, however, I have no doubt in my mind that if Nigerians are asked to choose between GEJ's time and Buhari's present tenure, most will choose GEJ's tenure.

Lol. Jonathan's tenure is the worst ever this country has had to endure followed closely by Shagari, Abacha and Babangida in that order. Well you probably didn't witness most of the other ones I mentioned so you may not know.

Nigerians are not known to make smart choices especially where food is concerned. If GEJ gives them congo of rice each they'll vote for him again. Ask Fayose.

Nigerians never had it so bad, the common man has never seen this level of suffering since the dawn of time.

Lie. Yes things are tough and Buhari is way too slow in addressing these problems. But the ultimate cause of the problemsis GEJ. Squandered the money we would have used to weather thes storm of the fall in crude oil prices and allowed boko haram to fester like a sore while instigating his brothers hiding in the creeks to blow up pipes reducing the amount of crude the nation had to sell to provide succour. When they were blowing up pipes, shey y'all were jumping up for joy. Ntorrrr. Now you are all hungry. Whose fault?