• Says ex-gov needs a party where he’ll be sole presidential candidate
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
The current constantly changing dynamics in political permutations in Nigeria have made it difficult to predict the outlook of the 2027 general elections. And this is not peculiar to Nigeria. As former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, has been famously quoted: “A week is a long time in politics.” However, in this interview, despite the dicey nature of the current power struggle, Chief Chekwas Okorie, a prominent leader of thought in the South-East, made some bold predictions which would shape the outcome of the next presidential election in favour of or against the Igbo.
You were very excited when the coalition group adopted ADC as a platform to contest the next general election. Giving the on-going rumbles in the party, do you still see it as an alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)?
I will limit my comment by saying that there is a credible opposition party, but whether it can grow to become an alternative to APC is yet to be seen. I will also give it the benefit of the doubt because it is not more than two or three months old, but the people who are there are seasoned politicians who have been around for a long time. They have been around for as long as those in APC, PDP, APGA and the rest of them have been around. These are strong enough to provide a credible opposition. But as an alternative, I will say the taste of the pudding is in the eating. So, the pudding is still being made and we have not started eating to know its taste.
As to the crisis in the party, if the people at the state level are the ones creating problems, they will soon fizzle out because the constitution doesn’t recognise state executives as separate from national leadership. It is only for the INEC to do the right thing so that this confusion can fizzle out.
What are your thoughts about the challenge of picking a presidential candidate for the 2027 election among the contending forces?
As we speak, I am not aware that Peter Obi is a card-carrying member of ADC. And you can quote me on this, Peter Obi has not told anybody that he is now a card-carrying member of ADC. That is why the likes of Jerry Gana can be talking about wooing him back to PDP. Nenadi Usman believes that Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. Until Peter Obi takes a position, I wouldn’t say that ADC has any dilemma in electing a presidential candidate. Those who have made their intentions known and the whole world knows are Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi.
And David Mark, who is the Chairman, has said it repeatedly that their convention will be a credible convention and that they are not going to zone their presidential ticket to any part of Nigeria. That simply means that it will be thrown open. If it is thrown open, honestly, Obi doesn’t have a chance. The reason he does not have a chance is not because he is not qualified. He is eminently qualified. In fact, he is a candidate to beat if he has a presidential ticket in his hand.
However, I don’t see him overcoming the structural challenge all of us in the South-East have suffered from the time of Dr Alex Ekwueme till now. For instance, North-West alone has 188 local governments, while South-East has 95. According to the Constitution of Nigeria and Electoral Act, delegates to a convention will be selected based on equality of local governments. Knowing what influences our delegates to vote in one way or the other, how does Obi have a chance? In the whole country, South-East has the least number of local governments.
What will be your advice for Obi?
The only way Obi will exercise his popularity is for him to fly a presidential flag as he did in the last election on the platform of a party where he would be the sole candidate. This can be Labour Party or he will go and buy one party; after all, ADC was purchased.
Some people bought it from the original owners. It is not easy for a party to surrender all its entire national leadership structure to other owners. You think those who invested their money to nurture the party will just throw it open for anybody to grab? Those who bought ADC didn’t buy it in order to give it to Obi. They have their agenda for buying it. So, my candid advice to Obi for him to consolidate the gains of the last election and even have a chance of becoming an elected president is not to be sucked into any conspiracy of a party that will eventually settle for the arrangement of bringing delegates from all over the country to vote. He should go to a party where he will be a sole candidate. If Labour is not available, he should go and purchase his own party. If Labour Party does not accept him; he was the first governor of APGA, APGA will reserve the ticket for him.