National Chairman of Igbo Forum, a pan-Igbo socio-political
organisation, High Chief Solomon Okonkwo, is worried over the fallout of recent
sit-at-home order by the Movement for the Survival of the Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB). He is also not happy over the selfishness of the current Igbo
political leadership, especially at state levels. He discusses this and other
vital issues in an interview
Excerpts:
South East governors
do not seem to be active and vibrant again to project the Igbo view. Why is
this so?
It is because everybody wants to be leader at
the same time. Although they won elections, they do not agree among themselves.
They collect money for the whole Igbo and spend it on themselves and their
cronies and they think Ndigbo are not watching. But because all Igbo are
watching, until they correct themselves, none of the current governors will
ever be the leader the Igbo nation is looking for. Azikiwe was not selfish and
self-centred; Okpara was not selfish and self-centred; Ibiam was not selfish
and self-centred. Ojukwu, who used his father’s wealth to fight for the Igbo
nation, was not selfish and self-centred. Even Chief Sam Mbakwe of yesterday
was not selfish or self-centred. Now, tell me, why was Igbo dear to these
people? It is because of their belief in the Igbo nation. We want to see any of
the current Igbo governors who can be like these great leaders so we can crown
him the new Igbo leader. When Uwazuruike and I started the journey to make
Ojukwu Eze Igbo Gburu Gburu because
of what he did for Ndigbo, people thought we were jokers and never-do-wells.
But, did Ojukwu not die as the greatest hero and Eze
Igbo Gburu Gburu of Igbo
nation? People can still do it again. But, let someone show us his ability to
be less self-centred.
With INEC recognition
of Victor Umeh as APGA Chairman, do you think the ongoing reconciliation moves
will be able to bring the party to where Ojukwu left it?
Fine. As far as I am concerned, you cannot
take what does not belong to you and want to gain from it. Our people have an
adage that “What you gather from the corners of the pot, goes to the corners of
the mouth and cannot stop your hunger or make you wealthy”. That is how I see
Umeh and his APGA. He did not participate in the formation of APGA or PDC
(Peoples Democratic Congress), which paved way for APGA. He cannot now be able
to sustain APGA to the original aims, objectives and goals. Therefore, APGA has
started to decline and it will continue to go down until he allows the founding
fathers of APGA to return and bring it back to the original idea. I, Chief
Solomon Okonkwo have serious doubt if APGA will retain any state during the
next general elections. Right now, as 2014 Anambra governorship election draws
nearer, people are now jostling for Labour Party and PDP and not APGA. In Imo,
APGA is as good as dead. What is in vogue there now is APC and PDP. Nobody is
talking of APGA in Imo. Umeh should quickly reconcile with the founding fathers
of APGA “before the child dies in his hands.”
Do you think APC is
gaining ground in the South East?
To me, it is all sound without substance.
Until we know who is in APC and who is not, then we can’t tell where it is
heading for. But, my fear over APC is that the relationship between Igbo and
Yoruba is always dicey and full of distrust. I have not seen what magic
Governor Rochas Okorocha and Chief Annie Okonkwo and few others championing the
APC cause in South East can do now to change the perception of Igbo against
Yoruba and Yoruba against Igbo politically. Now in the North, there is a gang
up by the Atikus, Buharis and others to the disadvantage of Tinubu and other
Yoruba leaders. Even the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, from South
South, is among those in the scramble for APC presidential ticket, even when
the party is yet to be registered. At the end of the day, the Igbo man will be
short changed.
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