A war of words broke out at the weekend in
Awka, Anambra State, during the Igbo Lecture
Series organized by Ohaneze Ndigbo to mark the
2014 Igbo Day celebration. The National
Chairman of United Peoples Party (UPP), Chief
Chekwas Okorie and the acting President of the
Ijaw National Congress, Charles Ambaiowei,
disagreed over Igbo’s support for President
Goodluck Jonathan’s presumed second term
ambition.
At the lecture which held at the Women
Development Centre, Awka, Chief Okorie had in his
address which received a loud ovation from the
audience, resented the unsolicited endorsement of
Jonathan’s re-election bid by the Igbo, stating
that endorsing the President without any
negotiation or concrete promise to the people of
the South-East amounts to sycophancy.
Okorie wondered when and why Ndigbo suddenly
lost their bite, to the extent of following members
of other ethnic nationalities sheepishly without
asking questions or seeking to know what was in
a game for them. He said: “When I look around
me, I see 1,000 Igbo men who are more qualified
than Jonathan, when I look again, I see more
than 2,000 Igbo men that are more qualified than
Buhari and Atiku put together. So, what are they
telling us?
“My problem is not just that the Igbo have no
good leaders to negotiate for them, my main
problem is that they do not even have the teeth
to bite any longer.
The UPP boss, however, distanced himself from
any endorsement or adoption that President
Jonathan might have received from some Igbo
leaders, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo, stressing that
his party would field an Igbo presidential
candidate next year.
He said, “I have nothing against Jonathan, but I
believe that we should negotiate before we adopt,
and not adopt before we negotiate. I don’t know
when Igbo grew this cold. ”
But reacting to Okorie’s speech, Ambaiowei, who
is a former commissioner in Bayelsa State under
Jonathan as governor, said the UPP’s boss
claims were very far from the truth.
He said there was an existing partnership
between the Igbo and the Ijaw nation, urging
Okorie and his likes to rather think of how to
utilize the said relationship to consolidate their
stay around the corridors of power, with the hope
of taking over from Jonathan after 2019.
He said, “I was on my way coming here (Awka)
when I got a news alert on my phone that
‘Chekwas Okorie blasts Jonathan,’ and later I was
told that Chekwas will be here and I said it will
be good for me to see him.
“What I am saying is that with the partnership we
already have between the Ijaw and the Igbo, we
are asking our brothers here to support Goodluck
Jonathan to complete his second term, and after
then, we will now ensure that Jonathan hands
over to the Igbo.”
However, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
Gary Igariwey, reiterated the Ohaneze stand on
the matter, stating that though it was the turn of
the Igbo to produce the president, they would
shelve their aspiration if Jonathan declares
interest.
He said he would not join issues with Okorie as
he (Okorie) is a respected Igbo son, and had
spoken as a politician he is. Igariwey said there
was the need to call on Igbo at home and in the
Diaspora to join in the collective struggle to build
Igboland and make it the pride of the Igbo.
Speaking to newsmen on the Igbo Day celebration
today, the President-General of World Igbo
Congress (WIC), Chief Nwachukwu Anakwenze,
said it would focus on calling on Igbo in the
Diaspora to return. home and help build up the
Igbo nation
[Reported By Daily Sun]
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