Anybody Seeking Igbo Votes Must Sign MoU, Says Ex-APGA Chairman Chekwas Okorie

Former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has declared that no politician should expect the support of the Igbo electorate in the 2027 general election without entering into a formal agreement with the region.

In an exclusive interview, Okorie said the South-East has long been marginalised in Nigeria’s political structure despite its numerical strength and nationwide presence. He disclosed that plans are underway for a political summit in January 2026 to mobilise the Igbo people and ensure their votes are coordinated for maximum impact. According to him, the era of politicians exploiting Igbo votes without accountability is over.

“Anybody who wants our votes will have to enter into a proper Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with us. The agreements will be made known to our people, stating clearly why we are supporting a candidate and what he has promised to deliver,” he said. He noted that the Igbo votes have historically made a difference in national elections, citing the 2011 and 2015 polls, as well as the unexpected victories recorded by Labour Party’s Peter Obi in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2023.

Okorie explained that the planned Igbo political summit is designed to provide a united platform for the region’s political engagement ahead of 2027. He stressed that the summit would complement, not rival, the pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo. He also criticised the political system for systematically shortchanging the South-East since the end of the civil war in 1970, citing the region’s lower number of states and local government areas compared to other regions, as well as limited federal presence and appointments. “Even today, Ogun State alone has five ministers while the entire South-East has the same number. This level of imbalance shows why we must change strategy,” he said, urging the Igbo to embrace the power of their voter cards, which he described as “more potent than an AK-47” in overcoming marginalisation.

Commenting on speculation that Peter Obi could emerge as a coalition presidential candidate, Okorie was blunt. “I don’t see Peter Obi emerging as the candidate of any major coalition except it is micro-zoned to him. The political structure makes it very difficult for an Igbo man to emerge president under the current arrangement,” he observed.

Okorie gave a mixed assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. He commended efforts on security but criticised economic management and what he described as unprecedented nepotism in appointments. “If Buhari was accused of nepotism, in Tinubu’s case, Buhari was a learner. He has given all the meaningful ministries and parastatals to one ethnic group. He has failed to manage Nigeria’s diversity,” he said.

Reflecting on APGA’s trajectory, Okorie described the party’s prolonged internal crises as a “tragedy,” noting it squandered its early momentum as Nigeria’s third-largest party in 2003. On the ongoing opposition coalition talks, he dismissed the group as “a collection of strange bedfellows without ideological direction,” stressing that only ideology-driven politics could resolve Nigeria’s ethnic and religious divides.