A motion for Jonathan’s endorsement
as the Igbo candidate in the 2015
presidential election was scuttled at the
Ime-Obi (leadership caucus) meeting of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo on January 3. As one
of those who kicked against the motion,
why do you think Jonathan should not
be endorsed?
Actually, it was on the 9th of November 2014 that
they first mooted the idea to endorse President
Jonathan. In that Ime-Obi, which is like a caucus
meeting of the Ohanaeze, we said Ohanaeze was like
a polygamous father with many children and many
wives. A polygamous father has to consult more than
a father that is married to only one wife. Ohanaeze
is a father that is running many households: we have
the Peoples Democratic Party, we have the All
Progressives Congress, we have the United Progressive
Party that even has an Igbo as the presidential
candidate in Chief Chekwas Okorie; we have other
political parties that also have Igbo people. We said
it didn’t make any political sense, strategically, to
endorse President Jonathan.
We had to insist on a counter motion. In the
shouting match that ensued, Chief Emmanuel
Iwuanyanwu’s motion could not be passed and it
wasn’t even seconded. It will be stupid for the Igbo
nation to endorse President Jonathan because as it
stands today, nobody knows who will win. It is not
like in 2011 when General Muhammadu Buhari was
running with the Congress for Progressive Change
which did not have much spread nationwide. Today,
the APC now has broad movement and followership
in all the nooks and crannies of the country, just
like the PDP. So we said it didn’t make sense to
support one party.
Is this why you want Ohanaeze to
withdraw its support for Jonathan?
Again, there is the checklist of expectations by the
Igbo, which President Jonathan, in the course of the
campaign before the 2011 general elections, agreed to
fulfill. We talked of revamping the Enugu coal, but
six years down the line President Jonathan has not
done so. They even promised the Enugu coal will be
used for a coal-fired power plant to supply at least
1000 mega watts of electricity. That had not been
done. We had expected that six years after
Jonathan became President the power plant would
have started; it could have helped the Igbo and other
Nigerians. Even the international airport he claimed
to have built cannot actually be called an
international airport because the British Airways,
Lufthansa, can’t come there. If there is a hub driven
by coal, with the ancillary industries that will
follow the production of coal, it will energise the
place. He failed.
We talk of the second Niger Bridge. That is because
President Jonathan, in February 2013, after visiting
Imo State where he had received politicians who
defected to the PDP, hopped into Onitsha to see the
Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe. Luckily for the
Igbo people, the Obi went through his diary and
remembered that Jonathan promised the Second Niger
Bridge and queried him there. President Jonathan
was on the defensive. We said, with all the
unprecedented oil money, why did it not occur to the
president to remember the second Niger Bridge
earlier?
But some have commended Jonathan
for favouring the South-East with
political appointments.
Yes, he gave us secretary to the government of the
federation; he gave us minister of finance, and
other ministers but we are saying those ones are
supposed to be constitutional matters —the
constitution says if you become the president, you
must appoint at least one minister from every state
of the federation. The issue of doing us a favour
does not arise and the fact that we have our son,
Dr. Pius Anyim, as the SGF, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala as the minister of finance does not confer
any advantage on us. We are not saying that the
individual families have not been improved but we
are not talking about families, we are talking about
the generality of the Igbo race. We do not see any
benefit from the Jonathan regime to warrant
endorsement, and we felt it could be suicidal, given
the fact that General Muhammadu Buhari and the
APC were lurking in the wings, nobody could weigh
who would win the presidential election. Why should
we endorse one and leave the other? That was how
we shut down the motion.
But an Ohanaeze chief has boasted that
Ohanaeze will eventually endorse
Jonathan.
Unless they do so by sitting in their houses and
issuing a press statement. Ohanaeze’s constitution is
very clear —even if the Ime-Obi had endorsed him,
going by the constitution of Ohanaeze, it requires
the ratification of the General Assembly that
includes every Igbo person. It will require the
General Assembly for endorsement.
What plans does Buhari have for the
Igbos, has he reached out to Ohanaeze
Ndigbo?
On the 7th of November, Buhari wrote to the
Ohanaeze, saying he would like to have a discussion
with us because he was consulting various groups and
he felt the Ohanaeze was very important for him to
consult. In the last paragraph of the letter, he said
he would not claim to know everything that was of
importance to the Igbo, that after the discussion, he
would know what to say. Before the elections, he
will have time to discuss with Ohanaeze.
http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/itll-be-stupid-for-igbos-to-endorse-jonathan-okechukwu/

jona's biggest achievement in d east is d addition of 'international' to Akanu Ibiam airport. And d appointment of some people dat have helped him plunder our resources. Is it not shameful dat someone who u supported totally is still coming back to promise u d same thing after 4yrs?
Jonathan knew dat giving d Igbos d 2nd naiger bridge would guarantee him unwavering support yet he refused to do it when he knew he had something to lose. Is it now if he is reelected when he will have nothing to lose dat he will fulfil his promise?
And with d antecedent of naija politicians, we know dat CIA 2nd term is always worse dan dia first

The igbos are supporting GEJ to pacify the people of south-south against the atrocities they committed during d civil war. So no skin pain.

size38:
The igbos are supporting GEJ to pacify the people of south-south against the atrocities they committed during d civil war. So no skin pain.

^^^Pray, what atrocities!? And when do Ndigbo expect 'pacification' for the atrocities committed against us before, during, and even after said war?.....By the very same peoples you now expect us to support!

Election will come and go.

The 'wiseness' typical of men from the east is begining to surface.
The wise men are truelly from the east.

come febuhari

It will be silly for the north to support buhari bec of his ill heath.What happened between Yar Adua and Jonathan might repeat itself between buhari and Osinbajo.Till 2025 for the north too bad