Chekwas Okorie: The Provider of Platform For Ndigbo
At the run-up to the 1999 general elections, the dominant political parties in the country were the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Peoples Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
The AD was unpretentious that it was a party of the South West.
The PDP was the behemoth, with spread all over the country and populated by many of those who cut their political teeth in the second Republic with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). From the onset, it prided itself as a national platform for all Nigerians. But its national convention in Jos, Plateau State to select a presidential candidate soon proved that it was not national enough to accommodate Ndigbo at the highest level.
Former vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was without doubt the front runner with well known democratic credentials for the presidential ticket of the PDP. He was the leader of the group of eminent Nigerians, known as G34 that stood against dictatorship under the General Sani Abacha regime. He also met the criteria set by the PDP for any presidential aspirant that want to pick its ticket.
The criteria was that to be eligible to participate in the contest for the presidential ticket such aspirant must have delivered victory for the party in the ward, local government and governorship elections that preceded the presidential election. Ekwueme met the set criteria, as PDP made a clean sweep of Anambra State, but his closest rival, General Olusegun Obasanjo, did not. In the aforementioned elections in Ogun State where Obasanjo hail from, it was the AD that won. Obasanjo lost even in his ward. Despite his handicap, the PDP leadership cleared the way for him to participate in the contest, which he won. Ndigbo were devastated. With the effort that Ekwueme put on the campaign and the massive support he enjoyed many were sure that Ekwueme will become victorious. It was not to be. With Ekwueme out of the power equation, the Igbo presidency dream that it spurred lost steam.
Similar fate also befell Ndigbo at the APP National Convention to pick its presidential candidate. After the counting of votes, Dr.Ogbonnaya Onu emerged victorious. However, his victory was short-lived. He was literally forced to step down for Chief Olu Falae.
One Igbo leader, who saw what happened as another in the long list of series of documented incidents of Marginalisation of Ndigbo in every sphere of life in Nigeria, went to court to seek for the reinstatement of Onu as the candidate of the APP.
His effort was unsuccessful. The ill treatment of Onu spurred him to begin a search for a platform for Ndigbo. The man we are talking about is Chief Chekwas Okorie. He was the man who imposed it upon himself the responsibility of ensuring that All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) becomes a registered political party with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Chief Okorie is believed to be the first Igbo Man to have founded a political party in Nigeria.
APGA enfranchised Ndigbo, who embraced it warmly and when in 2003 the party presented Dim Odumegun Ojukwu as its presidential candidate, the newly formed party, occupied a respectable third position behind the APP and PDP.
To many residents of the South East, APGA won the 2003 elections in the zone. But to the INEC and the PDP candidates and their supporters that collaborated and rigged the elections, the PDP won fair and square. In Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngigewas declared the winner of the gubernatorial election in the state by INEC but to most Anambrarians APGA won the gubernatorial election, but its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi was denied victory. It took the court three years to confirm the victory of Obi. On March 15, 2006, Ngige's victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal which ordered that Obi be sworn in as the duly elected governor of Anambra State. APGA also won state Assembly seats in the South East and had a legislator at theHouse of Representatives.
It has been widely acknowledged by pundits that APGA would have metamorphosed to the position of being the dominant party in the South East by now, the same way AD dominated the South west in 1999, but for the intra-party crisis that have been rocking it since December, 2004.
The incipient crisis of 2004 has snowballed to full blown political warfare with Chekwas Okorie on one side and Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mr. Peter Obi and Chief Victor Umeh on the other side. And the war is over the soul of APGA.
Thankfully, it was a war that is being fought in the courts. It is a war that Chekwas believe he is condemned to win because he single handedly created APGA.
He tells whosoever cares to listen that APGA is his place in the political history of Nigeria and therefore can never be frustrated out of the party. A dogged fighter, it is still a mystery to many that Chief Okorie was able to sustain the war that involves a sitting state governor thus far.
Chekwas is a democrat, who saw that the political space are being closed against Ndigbo and he rose to the challenge of opening it by providing them and other Nigerians, APGA. He saw a need and he fills that need. Like all progressive projects, hiccups are inevitable.
Chekwas Okorie's biggest challenge now is to reposition the party ahead of the 2011 election, so that it would continue to be a platform for Ndigbo and other Nigerians to participate in the politics of the country.
On Tuesday, the court cleared the last obstacle to APGA's preparation for the election when the High Court stroke out motion on notice instituted by Chief Victor Umeh against INEC and the National chairman of the party, chief Chekwas Okorie. This development has reportedly galvanized APGA supporters and leadership.
Preparations are said to be in top gears for the party's National Working Committee (NWC) meeting and Naitonal Executive Committee (NEC), meeting respectively to approve the party's programme for its nationwide congresses/primaries as well as 2011 general election.
For giving voice to the voiceless and providing alternative platform for Nigerians, the APGA as a political party has contributed in strengthening democracy in the country. And the man who conceived this laudable dream has become a hero of democracy to Ndigbo and other Nigerians.
The AD was unpretentious that it was a party of the South West.
The PDP was the behemoth, with spread all over the country and populated by many of those who cut their political teeth in the second Republic with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). From the onset, it prided itself as a national platform for all Nigerians. But its national convention in Jos, Plateau State to select a presidential candidate soon proved that it was not national enough to accommodate Ndigbo at the highest level.
Former vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was without doubt the front runner with well known democratic credentials for the presidential ticket of the PDP. He was the leader of the group of eminent Nigerians, known as G34 that stood against dictatorship under the General Sani Abacha regime. He also met the criteria set by the PDP for any presidential aspirant that want to pick its ticket.
The criteria was that to be eligible to participate in the contest for the presidential ticket such aspirant must have delivered victory for the party in the ward, local government and governorship elections that preceded the presidential election. Ekwueme met the set criteria, as PDP made a clean sweep of Anambra State, but his closest rival, General Olusegun Obasanjo, did not. In the aforementioned elections in Ogun State where Obasanjo hail from, it was the AD that won. Obasanjo lost even in his ward. Despite his handicap, the PDP leadership cleared the way for him to participate in the contest, which he won. Ndigbo were devastated. With the effort that Ekwueme put on the campaign and the massive support he enjoyed many were sure that Ekwueme will become victorious. It was not to be. With Ekwueme out of the power equation, the Igbo presidency dream that it spurred lost steam.
Similar fate also befell Ndigbo at the APP National Convention to pick its presidential candidate. After the counting of votes, Dr.Ogbonnaya Onu emerged victorious. However, his victory was short-lived. He was literally forced to step down for Chief Olu Falae.
One Igbo leader, who saw what happened as another in the long list of series of documented incidents of Marginalisation of Ndigbo in every sphere of life in Nigeria, went to court to seek for the reinstatement of Onu as the candidate of the APP.
His effort was unsuccessful. The ill treatment of Onu spurred him to begin a search for a platform for Ndigbo. The man we are talking about is Chief Chekwas Okorie. He was the man who imposed it upon himself the responsibility of ensuring that All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) becomes a registered political party with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Chief Okorie is believed to be the first Igbo Man to have founded a political party in Nigeria.
APGA enfranchised Ndigbo, who embraced it warmly and when in 2003 the party presented Dim Odumegun Ojukwu as its presidential candidate, the newly formed party, occupied a respectable third position behind the APP and PDP.
To many residents of the South East, APGA won the 2003 elections in the zone. But to the INEC and the PDP candidates and their supporters that collaborated and rigged the elections, the PDP won fair and square. In Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngigewas declared the winner of the gubernatorial election in the state by INEC but to most Anambrarians APGA won the gubernatorial election, but its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi was denied victory. It took the court three years to confirm the victory of Obi. On March 15, 2006, Ngige's victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal which ordered that Obi be sworn in as the duly elected governor of Anambra State. APGA also won state Assembly seats in the South East and had a legislator at theHouse of Representatives.
It has been widely acknowledged by pundits that APGA would have metamorphosed to the position of being the dominant party in the South East by now, the same way AD dominated the South west in 1999, but for the intra-party crisis that have been rocking it since December, 2004.
The incipient crisis of 2004 has snowballed to full blown political warfare with Chekwas Okorie on one side and Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mr. Peter Obi and Chief Victor Umeh on the other side. And the war is over the soul of APGA.
Thankfully, it was a war that is being fought in the courts. It is a war that Chekwas believe he is condemned to win because he single handedly created APGA.
He tells whosoever cares to listen that APGA is his place in the political history of Nigeria and therefore can never be frustrated out of the party. A dogged fighter, it is still a mystery to many that Chief Okorie was able to sustain the war that involves a sitting state governor thus far.
Chekwas is a democrat, who saw that the political space are being closed against Ndigbo and he rose to the challenge of opening it by providing them and other Nigerians, APGA. He saw a need and he fills that need. Like all progressive projects, hiccups are inevitable.
Chekwas Okorie's biggest challenge now is to reposition the party ahead of the 2011 election, so that it would continue to be a platform for Ndigbo and other Nigerians to participate in the politics of the country.
On Tuesday, the court cleared the last obstacle to APGA's preparation for the election when the High Court stroke out motion on notice instituted by Chief Victor Umeh against INEC and the National chairman of the party, chief Chekwas Okorie. This development has reportedly galvanized APGA supporters and leadership.
Preparations are said to be in top gears for the party's National Working Committee (NWC) meeting and Naitonal Executive Committee (NEC), meeting respectively to approve the party's programme for its nationwide congresses/primaries as well as 2011 general election.
For giving voice to the voiceless and providing alternative platform for Nigerians, the APGA as a political party has contributed in strengthening democracy in the country. And the man who conceived this laudable dream has become a hero of democracy to Ndigbo and other Nigerians.
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