Crisis In APGA Birthed IPOB, Chekwas Okorie

The pioneer national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Convener of Igbo Agenda Dialogue, Chief Chekwas Okorie, says the crisis that rocked APGA led to the formation of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

According to him, Nnamdi Kanu, who was the Chairman of APGA in the United Kingdom, was aggrieved with the way APGA was engulfed in crisis, forcing him to form IPOB.

Okorie stated this when he featured on Enugu-based Dream FM’s “Political Voices”. He also spoke on many Igbo issues.

Birthing Of IPOB

He said he discovered Nnamdi Kanu in 2002, and consequently appointed him the chairman of APGA in the UK because of his commitment to the Igbo cause. “Kanu was part of the efforts to reconcile the parties that were quarrelling in APGA,” says Okorie. “We were in court for eight years. By 2012, we decided to move on, and formed UPP. Kanu and all the European APGA members lost confidence in the political process, and then formed IPOB.”

He said Kanu’s life imprisonment was part of Igbo subjugation in Nigeria. “There was nothing that Kanu did that other agitators didn’t do more to address the causes of their own people, not to talk about Igbo people whose marginalisation is crying to the high heaven.” According to him, Kanu is “a symbol of what we are in Nigeria today”.

Igbo Leaders Not Right Calibres

Okorie regretted that Igbo leaders have not united to pursue a common Igbo agenda. “In politics, there is nothing like begging. We have what it takes to stand on our own, and tell the president of the political consequences if such demands were not implemented. Until we use the strength that God has given us, we will not be able to assert ourselves and get what we want. That is the essence of Igbo Agenda Dialogue.”

He said the Igbo should blame themselves for their relegation in the country’s polity. In his words, “We should blame ourselves more than the people we are looking up to. You can’t give what you do not have. We have not recruited the right persons to be governors, senators and even councillors. If we ask Igbo people who their foremost senators are, out of 45, I can tell you that 90 percent will just mention one person.”

Can you imagine where the five state assemblies we have in the South East will meet to agree to move a motion that if Nnamdi Kanu is not released unconditionally, that South East will review their stay in Nigeria? That statement alone will rattle the government of the day, but who will have the courage to even initiate it? Nobody can look at the Igbo number and say we are a dot in a circle.

The Goal Of Igbo Agenda Dialogue

Chief Okorie said the goal of the Igbo Agenda Dialogue is to unite the people of the South East towards having their political space in Nigeria. He said the failure of the Igbo race to found their own native political party is adversely affecting their efforts to produce Nigeria’s president, hence the new initiative.
“Last August, I and a few friends took a decision that the time had come for us to address that matter. Igbo is like a sleeping giant. That giant has to be woken up. The vision bearers of the Igbo Agenda Dialogue took a decision to disengage from all partisanship. We resolved to hold town hall meetings across the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT to interface with our people in a normal town hall setting. It is taking off in Enugu, being the political capital of Ndigbo and cradle of political civilisation of the Eastern Region.” He said a compendium of all opinions gathered would be produced, and would be used to articulate the Igbo agenda.

According to him, “Igbo people never founded a political party as a tool for national negotiations. NCNC, which Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe led, was founded by Dr Herbert Macaulay as Nigerian National Democratic Party, and later NCNC.”

Rise And Fall Of APGA

Okorie said efforts to form APGA began in 1996. “We made three attempts. The first two failed. The third one became APGA. We then formulated a policy that an Igbo man must be a presidential candidate on the platform of APGA. Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu was the first beneficiary of that initiative.”

According to him, APGA was destroyed by a conspiracy to disunite the Igbo race. “When APGA came up, everything was done to stop the presentation of Ojukwu as its presidential candidate. Offers were made. We resisted all that because the whole idea of forming APGA is to give Igbo people relevance.”

How PDP Misled Igbo Nation

Okorie claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party destroyed the prospect of an Igbo man emerging as president of Nigeria. “When PDP was formed,” according to him, “The North gave the impression that Dr Alex Ekwueme was going to be the president that they would support. They based it on the fact that he was a committed Nigeria, having served as VP to Alhaji Shehu Shagari. We didn’t know that it was a trap. They came up with the policy that any aspirant that did not win his ward in the election that took place earlier would not be eligible to contest as a presidential spirant during their convention. Igbo people gave 100 percent of their political capital to PDP.”

However, he said, there was an unseen gang-up against the Igbo. “Before the convention, PDP changed that policy because Chief Olusegun Obasanjo lost his ward and the entire South West to Alliance for Democracy. They short-changed Alex Ekwueme in Jos. It is the greatest political 419 in the history of this country.”

Building Igbo Consciousness

The IAD convener called for unity among Igbo people. He said the prospect is brighter if pursued with determination. “There are indigenous Igbo people in at least 19 states in this country. I am not talking about where they settle. And we are settled in all the 36 states and the FCT. In terms of population, Igbo people constitute about 99 percent of the population of South-East, and the second to the indigenous population of every other state in Nigeria. No race will have this type of number and spread, and still remain irrelevant. Igbo people also accommodate other people.”

He recalled that in the First Republic, a Fulani man was elected the first mayor of Enugu, adding that he was re-elected as an independent candidate for his second tenure when NCNC denied him the ticket.

“We have supported every other race to be president of Nigeria, but this Igbo that led the struggle for independence has never been given the opportunity to produce the president of Nigeria.”

He advised Ndigbo to shun apathy towards election, noting that it would be counter-productive. “Our own Igbo people began gradually to withdraw from participating in the electoral process. They began to feel that they are no longer Nigerians based on not being wanted because the evidence is everywhere.”

He said the quest for an Igbo presidency is not only because an Igbo man led the struggle for Nigeria’s independence, but because Ndigbo have contributed towards the development of Nigeria. “Igbo are more Nigerian than others, unfortunately there has been a conspiracy based on morbid fear that has no basis or envy to stop the Igbo man from rising to that level. That conspiracy has come at different times.”

He recalled that when Ojukwu emerged APGA’s presidential candidate, the military cabal were rattled. Their reason, according to him, was that if Ojukwu gained foothold in South East that he would resurrect the Biafran struggle. “But Ojukwu had said before then that he led the first war, which was justified for self-defence, but he would not support another war because of its devastation. He tried to make himself more Nigerian than other Nigerians, yet that suspicion remained. It has been conspiracy after conspiracy against our people.”

Possibility Of Igbo Presidency In 2027

He bemoaned Igbo leaders adopting President Bola Tinubu as a sole candidate. According to him, “How can an Igbo man say that it is not the turn of Igbo people to become president? Zik, even if he didn’t win, contested twice. Ojukwu contested too. We have a singular opportunity come in 2027. That is why we want Igbo people to show consciousness. Don’t sit back and say they will rig it. That is a defeatist posture. If we fail to vote, we have voted for the person we do not want to lead us. Let us have more of Abaribe and Aguochas as our leaders.”

Endorsement of Tinubu By South-East Leaders

Okorie described the gale of endorsement of President Tinubu by South-East leaders as a fluke. Quoting him, “Tinubu is embracing South East because he got about five percent votes from the zone in 2023. Igbo people cannot change their tradition and nature. They have always believed that it is unwise to put one’s eggs in one basket. Even in the first and second republics, we didn’t put our eggs in one basket. What will encourage average Igbo men to give Tinubu 80 percent of votes when they have seen nothing to encourage them? To an average Igbo man, once he has left his house to vote, he requires little persuasion to know who to vote. Tinubu has proven that Buhari was a learner in the area of nepotism and parochialism. We have not been accommodated at all in the government. I doubt if there has been any works minister better than Dave Umahi in terms of performance, but the politics he plays is a major minus.”