…Begs S’East to give APC at least 50% votes in 2027
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has said it was unfair for anyone to refer to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, as an Igbo candidate.
The APC chieftain and strong ally of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who said this while responding to questions during the August edition of Ikengaonline monthly town hall meeting on Thursday night, noted that Obi’s supporters were not only Igbo but cut across the country.
This is as he pleaded with South-East voters to be strategic in 2027 and not put their eggs in one basket.
Okechukwu, who spoke on the theme: “Party Platforms and the South-East Agenda in 2027,” urged South-East voters to vote for the APC in 2027.
He further pleaded with them to at least give the APC 25% of their votes if they would not give the party 50% or 100%.
Asked why the Igbo political elite prefer to attack Obi instead of canvassing support for him, he said Obi had made a mark nobody could easily dismiss but advised Ndigbo not to be sentimental in their support for any candidate of their choice.
He said: “Peter Obi has done so well and nobody can claim he is an Igbo candidate. He is not an Igbo candidate. He is a Pan-Nigerian. He has supporters across the country more than in Igboland. So, for you to tag him an Igbo candidate is not helping his candidature.
“Let’s not be emotional about it, but pragmatic. The inroads Peter Obi made in Lagos, do you think it was only the Igbos that voted for him? Anybody saying so is not being frank. The youths supporting him across the country are not only Igbo youths.
“Is my friend Tanko Yunusa an Igbo? Is Dele Farotimi an Igbo? Let’s not reduce Peter Obi to where he does not belong. If we believe in God, these things will work out. But if you continue to be emotional and sentimental, it does not help in liberal politics.
“What it can do is to breed hate, and hate becomes pandemic. Like now, we can see some people are not registering for voter’s cards because they lost faith in the system. It’s because of this kind of disinformation.
“I will advise we be pragmatic and remain open. We need to be rational and pragmatic. This is my preference, yes, but is it workable? If it is not workable, what do I do next?”
Okechukwu said it would also be unreasonable to assume that Ndigbo are not wise, arguing that the level of development in Igboland is a testament to their resilience and enterprising spirit.
“I will be an idiot to say that Igbos don’t know what they are doing. How can I say so? If we don’t know what we are doing, how did we achieve what we have achieved?
“In all the human development index, where are we? We are not coming last with all the indications. If we believe in God, we should thank God and not be emotional.”
