"At independence, Nigeria was made up of three regions, which later became four regions that were further divided into states by military fiat over which Ndigbo had little or no say. The North has ruled the country for 33 years; the West 12 years; zoning or no zoning, rotation or not, the old Eastern region, for the sake of equity and justice, shall produce the next President of Nigeria. The region that produced over 90 per cent of the wealth of the country should for a change have a prime position in the governance of the country. That given the fact that what is now known as Bayelsa State used to be the Brass District of Eastern Region, and that the Eastern and Mid-Western regions have been marginalized in the presidency of Nigeria - consequently, the summit has decided to endorse the presidential aspiration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan." – stated Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at a recent summit organized by a politician operating out of Enugu who contested for the gubernatorial seat in Enugu under the banner of All Progressive Peoples Alliance [APGA] in 2007 - and goes by the name Ugo Agballa. The event was attended by the likes of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Mr. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu [jnr], Bishop Maxwell Anikwenwa, Maxi Okwu, Osita Okechukwu, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, and Senator Offia Nwali.
Information available to ukpakareports.com interestingly points to the backgrounds of the said endorsement as suspect. This is as impeccable sources bared witness to the financial inducements distributed to the Igbo personalities in exchange for the endorsement.
The President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan through a Senator [Senator Amange] representing his home State, Bayelsa arranged for funds to be made available to Ugo Agballa for onward transmission to the Igbo personalities. The amount, according to a source, was N100million while another credible but unverified source put the amount at N50million. The Governor of Imo State and a prominent business man [Okwosa] from Ukpo, Anambra State was said to have contributed significantly towards raising the amount. As gathered, Senator Amange in an off-guarded statement opened up that he gave Ugo Agballa the sum of N50million to give to the convener of the Summit, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi. The exchange was reported to have taken place at the Transcorp Hotel in Maitama, Abuja, sometime between August 11 and August 13, 2010.
In a manner deemed puzzling by political watchers of the geo-political area - the elected officials of the South East carefully avoided attending the event – except for a representative sent by the Ebony State Governor, Martin Elechi.
Apparently, the information had leaked to some quarters of the financial inducements dished out to the conveners of the summit. To the extent that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu cautioned openly against the summit. Hon. Ekweremadu told ukpakareports.com that “I was not there as I advised that the summit be suspended for detailed consultations”.
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] was cautious when he was approached by our correspondent over the allegation of bribery by the Jonathan campaign team. His words, “As an umpire we stay clear of internal campaign of aspirants or would be aspirants”.
But notable politicians from the South East region who spoke under the cloak of anonymity opened up on their true take on the matter. In the words of a prominent politician from Anambra State - in reacting to the purchased endorsement, “Obviously, but am afraid I cannot say more about mercenary Igbo group led by geriatric psychopaths who do not care about how disparaging history will record them because even when they held high positions ostensibly because they are Igbo, neither the Igbo nor their villages have one single dividend of democracy to show for holding such high office. What can one say of an octogerian who manipulated PDPs untrustworthy brand of democracy to install his son who is a failed lawyer living in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in the Anambra House of Assembly for over three years until the Supreme Court disgraced him and chased him away on grounds that he was not even a candidate of PDP ab initio and ordered the rightful candidate – Egwuoyibo Okoye – to be sworn in-less than 15months to the end of his Parliamentary Session. Chief Mbazulike Aaechi is a disgrace to Ndi-Igbo and come 2011 Presidential Election, it shall be proved to him that he is too pedestrian to speak to Ndi-Igbo. He is a liability to any Presidential candidate he supports”.
Meanwhile, with President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent declaration to the PDP Governor’s forum of his intention to join the contest against January 22nd 2010 exercise, the various mushroom campaign outfits set up and financed by the Jonathan campaign machinery have sprung into action. Intelligent sources indicate that the South East governors have been tasked with assisting the mushroom groups into ‘financing’ more endorsements.
Just two day ago, Monday, September 6th 2010, the Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi and the Ikemba of Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was sighted at the Presidential Villa as they waited to be seen by President Jonathan.
In all, it may remain uncertain what the reported purchased endorsements will yield the President in the ongoing tussle to wrestle the PDP nomination away from the grips of zoning but it is certain the adverse impact it will yield the South East geo-political zone. As can be recalled, the zoning formula was put in place by the founding fathers/masters of the Nigerian nation to ensure harmony in the country.
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