Mr Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has an impressive voter base in the country and stands to perform creditably well in next year’s elections.
In fact his Igbo stock constitute at least 25 per cent of voters in 31 states and the Federal Capital Territory, the Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD) has said.
National Chairman of IAD and founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, stated these today while announcing its of Obi’s presidential candidacy in Abuja .
Chekwas described IAD as an Igbo political network linked to Igbo unions, market associations, women and youth groups in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Okorie traced the history of Igbo political collaboration with other ethnic groups, saying the community had consistently supported alliances aimed at promoting national unity.
He recalled that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe led the independence struggle and that his party, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), entered a coalition with the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), paving the way for Alhaji Tafawa Balewa to become Prime Minister in 1960.
He also cited the Second Republic, when Azikiwe’s Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) allied with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) to form a government.
According to Okorie, during the transition programme of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Igbo leaders met at Modotel Hotel in Enugu and invested politically in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after Dr Alex Ekwueme was assured of support from his northern political associates for the presidency.
He said the South-East subsequently supported the PDP across elective positions but alleged that Ekwueme was denied the party’s presidential ticket at its Jos convention.
Okorie said IAD assessed the leading contenders for the 2027 presidential election based on their records, empathy, fitness, probity and prudence before consulting widely and settling on Obi.
“We came to the unanimous resolution that it will be in the best interest of Nigeria to elect Mr Peter Obi,” he said.
He claimed Mr Peter Obi enjoyed support across ethnic and religious lines and was the most globally visible contender in the presidential race.
Okorie said Nigerians had long been governed by ageing political leaders and argued that the 2027 election offered an opportunity to elect a compassionate and prudent leader, despite what he described as intimidation.
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On the demographic strength of the Igbo electorate, he said: “Igbo people constitute a minimum of 25% of the voting population in each of the 31 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory or the second largest population to the indigenous population of these states while constituting over 99% of the voting population in the five states in the South East.”
He also announced that Obi would run with Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, as his running mate.
Okorie urged other Igbo politicians to focus their campaigns on issues affecting Nigerians.
To illustrate what he described as the Igbo people’s tradition of accommodating other ethnic groups, he cited the election of Alhaji Umaru Altine, a Fulani man from Sifawa in present-day Sokoto State, as the first Mayor of Enugu under the NCNC during the First Republic.
Adapted from Punch
