2023: Best time for Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction – Chekwas Okorie

CHIEF NNIA NWODO, PG Ohaneze Ndigbo

From; Madu Ezenoha, ENUGU

The National chairman of the deregistered United Progressives Party (UPP) who is now a chieftain of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Chekwas Okorie, at the weekend revealed that some subterranean political leg works are currently ongoing to optimize chances of Ndigbo producing President of Nigeria in 2023.

Okorie expressed the hope that the next presidential election in 2023 would be the best time to produce a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction. 

He said from all indications, Igbo political stakeholders are working behind the scene garnering support and building consensus among eminent leaders from other tribes and zones of the country.

Okorie who spoke to select journalists in Enugu expressed happiness at the outcome of recent meeting of South East APC stakeholders, hosted by the Imo state Governor, Hope Uzodinma, at Owerri.

The stakeholders’ meeting which was attended by a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani; Minister of labour and employment, Dr Chris Ngige; Minister of Foreign affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama; as well as Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu came up with a resolution to strengthen the weight of the party in the zone and a stake in the 2023 presidential slot with an insistence that it was the turn of the zone.

The chairman of defunct UPP, Okorie who described the resolutions as a right step in the right direction said, "Here we are, 2023 is looking at us. It is something I have been looking at. I have been one of the most optimistic Igbo leaders who have always looked up to 2023 as our destiny.

"We used UPP to support President Buhari’s election in 2019 with an understanding that allowing President Buhari to complete eight year tenure will pave way for Ndigbo to produce Nigerian President in 2023.

"The chances of the South East producing the nation's president in 2023 are very bright. Very prominent non Igbo opinion leaders have come out to say that for the sake of justice, equity and fair play, 2023 is time to support Ndigbo to produce the president of the country," he noted.

He listed eminent personalities in support of Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023 to include Chief Edwin Clarke; former University of Port Harcourt Vice  Chancellor and Ijaw National leader, Professor Okoko; Comrade Joseph Eva, among others from the South South zone of the country.

Others according to him are Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Alhaji Tanko Yakata among Northern leaders who have expressed their support for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023; while Ayo Adebanjo and many others from the Western part of the country have also voiced their support.

"In a nutshell, the quest for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023 is gathering momentum. It had never been like this before; the South East never gained such support. So what leaders from the South East APC are doing now is very commendable.

"For us in APC in the South East zone, we need to work very hard to win Anambra state governorship election coming up next year. If that happens, it then means we shall have two APC controlled states in the zone".