Tinubu has set Nigeria on path of sustainable growth –Okelekwe, APC chieftain

•Says he’ll win South-East in 2027

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Chief Kodilichukwu  Okelekwe has said President Bola Tinubu will win the South -East geo-political zone in the 2027 presidential poll. Okelekwe, who was the APC senatorial candidate for Anambra Central in the 2023 General Elections noted that President Tinubu would win because he has demonstrated a great love for the people of the zone. The APC chieftain in an interview with Daily Sun, also bared his mind on the November 8, 2025 governorship election in Anambra State.

Excerpts:

The Anambra State governorship election is few months away and your party, the APC has always had its eyes on the state, what are the chances of the APC in the November 8 contest viz- a -viz the rating of the present administration and the politics of the South -East?

If you look at what is happening in APC in Anambra now, you will know that it is actually the party to beat. We are the beautiful bride. APC has become the beautiful bride overnight. I remember years back, when I moved from the PDP to the APC, a friend of mine called and said he thought I was intelligent and smart; “why the decision to go to APC, a Fulani party”? Then Buhari was still in power. I told him time will tell, whether I have taken a right decision or not. Because I knew that there was nothing, I could say to convince him. Now fast forward to the present time, see what is happening. Look at the many defectors that have come into our party in the last six months.

You have Professor Obiorah Okonkwo that joined us. Many of them. The latest one that people were not really expecting to happen, but it happened- Val Ozigbo, given the relationship between him and the leader of the Labour Party, but he is with us today. That is to show you that APC is the party to beat in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election. Anambra has never been as ripe as it is now for the APC; provided we put our house in order; provided we get things right.

The success will not be automatic. There are things the party must do, if we are to harness the goodwill; if we are to translate the goodwill, that the party is enjoying into concrete electoral victory on November 8. And what are those things we need to do? Free, fair and credible primaries. So, that whoever losses will shake hands with the winner and join him. Once that is done, APC will win Anambra State, come November 8.

Anambra is a very unique state when it comes to gubernatorial contests. It is always difficult for the bigwigs to agree. It played out in the APC in the last gubernatorial contest. What level of reconciliation has happened in the party after the last election?

Anambra is one state that is so blessed with a lot of successful people. Anambra is the state with the highest concentration of billionaires in Nigeria. That should be an asset and not a disadvantage. I see it as an advantage. What it means is that nobody should take the other person for a ride. That things be discussed and agreements reached. And such agreements must be respected and kept.

Like I said, the only thing that APC needs to do to win on November 8 is to organise free, fair and credible primaries.  The primary must be transparent- the process, the preparation, the buildup, before and after must be seen to be transparent, credible, free and fair. That is all the APC needs to do to win. An Anambra man is the easiest man to win over; once you show him the facts. What Anambra man hates is Ekwusigo- that means it has been decided. No Anambra man wants to hear that. Anambra man wants to be on the table when decisions are made.  No Anambra man wants to be taken for a ride- where you make a decision elsewhere and you come to push it down his throat. No Anambra man likes that.

Once you carry the Anambra man along, you put all the cards on the table, he sees the whole process, he sees that everything is fair and square, he sees that if he wins, he wins fair and square or if he loses, he loses fair and square. That is an Anambra man or Anambra woman. So, once the things are done, victory will be ours on November 8. That is why I am harping on it. I have written what I will call an internal memo on it, on the importance of free, fair and credible primaries.  That the process must be such that it will throw up the right candidate.

In the memo I wrote to the party, I talked about the characteristics the party or party members should look out for in all the aspirants for the party’s ticket.  That the party members should be guided by approachability, I talked about electability, I talked about integrity, I talked about sound knowledge, I talked about ability to mobilise adequate resources for the election, because make no mistake about it, election is capital intensive. Not necessarily that the candidate will be rich, but you must have the capacity to mobilise resources. These are things, I want party members to look out for. But in doing that, the party has a role to play. Because party must provide a credible platform that ensures that the outcome is determined by the party members in Anambra State, not in Abuja or elsewhere.

Let us look at the perception of the APC in the South- East. If you look at the result of the last General Elections, the APC was more or less not in the equation. Do you think much has changed, two years after?

A lot has changed. The APC of 2023 is not the APC of 2025 in the South- East.  And certainly by 2027, it will be a different ball game. I can tell you. Take this to the bank, APC will win South -East in 2027. There is no alternative. Look at it. PDP has fizzled out in the South -East. Or is it still anywhere, apart from Enugu State? Is it in any other place? This is a region that the party held sway in in 1999. Now, there is only one state that is controlled by the PDP. So, there is no PDP. There is no other party apart from the APC.

So, in 2027, I don’t have any doubt that the APC will sweep the entire South- East. Look at the quality of men that are now defecting to the APC, across all the states in the South -East, not just in Anambra. Already we are in control of two states in the South -East. In fact, by number of states, you can say that APC is the largest party in the South -East. We are in control of Ebonyi and Imo states. PDP has one.  APGA has one. Labour has one. So, there is no alternative.

All we need do is to put our house in order, which is happening. We are coalescing.  There is a coalescing of progressive forces in the South- East now and it will manifest in the ballot in 2027. There is no doubt that APC will win the South -East in 2027. You can take this to the bank.

Let’s take a look at the administration of President Bola Tinubu, soon the administration will be two years in office. There is this belief by the public, especially the opposition that the government has not done well. What do you think?

I like to discuss facts and not fiction. Opposition will say what they want to say, it is their job. The job of opposition is to replace the government. And you cannot replace the government by praising the government. You replace the government by talking ill of government regardless of how good the policies are. That is their job. So, it is not an issue. Facts are facts, whether the opposition recognises those facts or not. Those facts don’t cease to be fact; because somebody refuses to recognise them to be fact. Facts are sacred.

Let me begin with the South- East where I come from, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, has been good to the South- East. He has taken concrete steps for the first time, since after the civil war to reintegrate the South -East into the mainstream of Nigerian politics. The South- East Development Commission, nobody believed it was possible, but today, not only did he sign it into law, but he also made provision in the current budget to the tune of N341 billion as a take-off grant. So, that alone is a practical demonstration of love for the people.

You know after the civil war, Yakubu Gowon promised us the 3Rs. But it was only in words. Nothing concrete was done to make the Igbos feel the impact of the 3Rs beyond platitude. But there are now practical steps. The civil war ended in 1970, this is 2025, that is 55 years ago.

You think a man that did such for the Igbos, that the Igbo will not reciprocate? You know one thing about the Igbos? Igbos are very appreciative people. That is why the Igbo do well in business. They know how to appreciate people who have assisted them. So, Igbos in their nature will reciprocate. That alone is enough for the Igbos to vote for President Tinubu in 2027. I need not say more.

So, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on course. A lot of things are changing. The Naira is stabilising. Prices of food stuffs are coming down. Nigeria is meeting her obligations internationally and nationally. Things can only get better. I just read recently, the NBS said our economy grew by 3.84 percent in the last quarter of 2024. Things can only get better. You know changes are not easy. Now the economy is growing in the real sense of it. 

You might say that prices are high and what have you, yes. But eventually these prices will stabilise. The fact that those prices were artificially held down prior to assumption of office by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not mean that the economy was doing well; because these prices were artificially held down. It wasn’t a true reflection of the market forces. I can liken what was happening then to the old Soviet Union when Brezhnev was the leader of the Soviet Union in the 60s, people said the economy of the Soviet Union was growing. But some scholars said that that was ‘the golden era of stagnation.’ The economy was stagnated.  I was not surprised that the Soviet Union disintegrated; because they could not sustain it over a long period of time. So, what President Tinubu has been able to do is to set the Nigerian economy on the path to sustainable growth.