OKORIE CALLS ON NDIGBO TO NEGOTIATE 2015 SUPPORT FOR JONATHAN

NDIGBO have been told to be cautious in their ongoing massive display of support for the re-election of President Jonathan in the 2015 elections. 
The National Chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, who made this call, noted Friday in Enugu that it is only through such a negotiation that Ndigbo can be relevant and benefit from the political support to the president.
Addressing chairmen of the UPP from the South East and South South zones in his residence in Enugu, Okorie pointed out that in the history of the country, coalitions and political accords were normal methods used by political parties to achieve their aims and objectives. 
Okorie, who in an earlier statement: “The Ohanaeze Betrayal: Ndigbo Take Heart It Shall Soon Be Over”, pilloried the leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo for stating that the organisation is “not interested in the participation of Ndigbo to produce the president of Nigeria in the 2015 presidential election,” said the Igbo can only lose its voice, not gain it by not contesting the presidential race in 2015 or at least “negotiate its position.”
He noted further that “neither Afenifere nor Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Ohanaeze counterparts in Yoruba and the North, will ever be caught undermining the collective aspiration of their people.”
The UPP national chairman, whose party has zoned its presidential ticket to the South East, slammed Ohanaeze leadership for betraying Ndigbo, and noted that Ohanaeze should at least, “appreciate and commend UPP for giving the Igbo people a voice to be heard and a place to stand in the contest for the highest office in the land.”
Harping on the benefits of a negotiated stance, Okorie pointed out how the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, after losing his bid to become the Prime Minister on the platform of the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), led his party to form the Coalition Government with Nothern People’s Council (NPC). The coalition led to the emergence of Azikiwe as President General, and the emergence of Dr. Jaja Wachukwu as Speaker of the Parliament.
He said a similar scenario played out in 1979 when Azikiwe led his Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) into an accord with the then ruling party the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Among other beneficiaries of the accord, Okorie stated that: “Dr. Edwin Ume-Ezuoke became the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Igbo people in NPN and NPP coexisted in the Second Republic without the acrimony and backstabbing that now characterises the Igbo politics to the embarrassment of Igbo patriots and followers.”
Source: Guardian