South-East: Men who would be president
It is not yet certain the number of Igbo politicians that would seek the 2015 presidency. However, two prominent Igbo figures, one a former governor and the other, a serving governor are being seen as candidates that would fly the zone's flag come 2015. Both have signified that people from the South-East should not continue to be spectators on presidential issues, whether the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan runs for a second term or not.
The two conspicuous figures are former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, and the incumbent governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Although, they have not come out openly to declare their ambition, their body language speaks volume, indicating their readiness to be the vanguards of Igbo Presidency. Kalu has since formed the Njiko Ndigbo as a platform for achieving unity of purpose among the Igbo. He and Okorocha seem to have the financial muscle and political sagacity needed to contest for the office.
Moreover, different political leaders in the zone have been canvassing for Igbo presidency in their various political parties, such as in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the United Peoples Party (UPP) and in the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
Ironically, no Igbo man in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has summoned courage to campaign for a president of Igbo extraction, probably for the fear of being victimised by the party that looks poised at giving the incumbent President Jonathan, an Ijaw man from the South-South zone, a second term ticket.
Expectedly, some prominent politicians from the South- East have been championing the awareness project on the need for the Igbo to leave the second fiddle position and take to the centre stage by courageously contesting for president in 2015.
It was for the same issue of Igbo Presidency that made Chief Victor Umeh of APGA fall out with the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, when Umeh insisted that APGA must present a presidential candidate for 2015 general election. Since then Obi, who had already endorsed President Jonathan of the PDP for a second term of office, has been up in arms against Umeh.
Umeh is, however, confident that truth will triumph over presumed falsehood, stating that Obi would lose charm in Igboland and seek for political exile. Umeh has so far proved his resolve for Igbo presidency by aligning with Okorocha, who, it is believed, has the ambition of contesting for the presidency on the APGA platform. Same thing goes for Senator Annie Okonkwo who through his chairmanship of Committee 21 has mounted vigorous campaign for a president of Igbo extraction in 2015.
A reinvigorated clamour for a president of Igbo extraction came with the newly registered UPP under the leadership of Chief Chekwas Okorie. Okorie, from the inception of UPP, made it abundantly clear that the South-East would pursue Igbo Presidency with the party platform.
Okorie said he was disappointed with positions being canvassed in some quarters that Ndigbo cannot rule the country because of their alleged disunity, noting that what Ndigbo required to rule the country was not 100 per cent unity, but 30 per cent. He disclosed that the decision to zone the presidency of the country in 2015 to the South-East was not a personal Presichoice but that which was rigorously debated by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
Okorie emphasised the decision to zone the presidency to the South-East was borne out of the desire to right the wrongs in Nigeria, stressing that the UPP believed that the foundation of the various crisis and threatening issues plaguing the country arose because certain zones and people are being marginalised.
Orji Uzor Kalu: The two -term governor of Abia State contested for the presidency in 2007 on the platform of Progressive Peoples Party (PPA) and lost to the late President Umaru Yar'Adua of the PDP. Since then, the former governor had kept a low profile until recently when he started a campaign for the promotion of Igbo presidency. Though Chief Kalu has not come out to declare his intention for 2015, those who know the former governor very well insist it was just a matter of time.
He recently tried to get back to the PDP but met a stiff opposition by the members from his state led by his successor and incumbent governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji.
In a recent interview, Kalu expressed deep disappointment with President Jonathan's administration when he said that the Jonathan-led administration lied to Ndigbo over his plans for 2015 presidency. According to Kalu, “Jonathan promised Ndigbo the 2015 presidency” but he has reneged on his promise and he is now preparing for 2015 elections.” Ndigbo, he insists, will not support Jonathan, said the former governor who also revealed that he was presently engaged in uniting the various factions within the Igbo political sphere.
He pointed to the political quandary within APGA as unnecessary, saying, “I want to bring together our Igbo leaders, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Governor Rochas Okorocha, Victor Umeh, Chekwas Okorie and other Igbo sons so we can produce an Igbo president”. He pledged to do whatever is required for Ndigbo to produce the next president of Nigeria come 2015. “I am not doing politics now. I am not a member of any party,” he said.
In his avowed desire to unify the Ndigbo, Kalu has been touring round Nigeria and has kept canvassing for Igbo Presidency. Late last year, he was guest speaker at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, at the 6th Emeritus Professor D. A. Ijalaye and Equity Chambers 25th anniversary where he spoke on the topic: 'Leadership: A key factor to a better Nigeria'. To many people, Kalu would be an ideal candidate for the South-East, “he has age on his side, a successful businessman, he was once a governor whose tenure witnessed unprecedented development in the state, so I think, if he wants to contest, people from the zone would rally round him”, was how a politician from the zone, who did not want his name in print, put it.
Owelle Rochas Okorocha: The incumbent Governor of Imo State was elected on the platform of APGA. Earlier, he had contested for the presidency on different political platforms, including PDP and Action Alliance (AA). It is generally believed that it is his interest in presenting himself as the presidential candidate of APGA, supported by the national chairman of the party, Victor Umeh, that is the genesis of APGA crisis.
Okorocha has however refrained from telling anybody in public that he would run for the Presidency in 2015. But the news that he would run has spread like wild harmattan fire. He has however been making comments suggestive of the speculation that he would seek presidential nomination come 2015. Such elaborate occasions included the commissioning of Ojukwu Centre in Owerri, where the Igbo intelligentsia were brought together to brainstorm on the way forward for Ndigbo in the nation's political space. Other exaggerated occasions that took place recently in Owerri included Okorocha's birthday bash that paralysed commercial activities in the state late last year as well as the marriage of his daughter that grounded movement along the Ontisha-Owerri Road.
Sunday Mirror learnt that ever since Okorocha's presidential ambition was made known to President Jonathan, the presidency has been using every available tactic to intimidate and armtwist Okorocha into dropping the ambition but Okorocha is said to be undaunted. Instances of such intimidation included the use of police by the Inspector General of Police to forcefully reinstate the sacked local government chairmen in PDP in the state and an alleged sabotage of implementing federal government projects in the state.
One of Okorocha's campaign promises in 2011 when he was contesting for governor in Imo State, was that he would quit as governor after one tenure, to make room for Owerri zone's turn, in line with Imo charter of equity. He was unequivocal that he aimed to be President come 2015 after President Jonathan's tenure, adding that Nigerians should judge him based on his performance as the governor of Imo State from 2011 to 2015.