OUK And His Argument…!

OBI TRICE EMEKA

OUK’s argument of power remaining in the North if it is not coming to the SE argument is the silliest argument I have listened to in a long while. Fortunately, almost all the SE delegates I have spoken to so far in Abuja are not buying that idea and will not touch it with a long spoon.

I understand that OUK joined the APC post-2015 election, and hence doesn’t understand the foundation on which the party stands.

It’s non-negotiable. The party must go South and wherever it goes in the South doesn’t matter. It is their entitlement from an alliance they formed and whatever they do with it is no one’s business. If Lawan is confident, let him come out for a contest and Abia delegates will shock OUK.

So far as the South is concerned, the SW is politically entitled to take the first share coming to the south in the APC. Those who disagree can only appeal to their sense of reason not attempt to bulldoze them.

In 2013, only the South West, which has majorly refused to align with the PDP in the South allied with the Northern party CPC and ANPP at that time. Another is Rochas’s APGA. The southwest leaders of the APC were maligned and likened to Afonja, the Yoruba warrior who led the Fulani into Ilorin. They stood their ground, weathered the storm and delivered the APC in the Southwest and everywhere they had a sphere of interest, including the traditional media they controlled and the new media they had significant knowledge of.

The South-South and South-East rather aligned with the PDP and the APC won in 2015 without any significant contribution from the SS and SE. It should be noted that the SW never aligned with anything PDP even when they zoned the presidency to the SW in 1999. This same group who rejected the SW zoning in 1999 are the same group that merged to form the APC with a clear cut strategy of taking their turn after 8 years. The SE rather saw their future in PDP and stood firmly for it.

It is political arrogance for anyone in the SE to say the SW must give up its years of sacrifice for the SE in the APC. I have never heard such a thing in my life. I am sold on the idea of an Igbo presidency in the APC but I understand the limitations of entitlement. The SE caucus of the APC can only cajole and plead with the SW caucus to sacrifice for them. They made the sacrifice and put their faith and hope in this party when the rest of the south didn’t. It should be noted that they first attempted with the north in 2007, repeated the same in 2011 and finally got it in 2015. Strategic thinking should have its reward.

Even if OUK doesn’t want the South West to have it, does it not think Amaechi is good enough to be called an Igbo man?

I should add that none of the SE aspirants has attempted to see the delegates or party members in the SW to seek their support. They just bought the form and did nothing.

If Lawan gets the ticket, it is the end of the APC and I say this with all certainty. Orji Uzor Kalu can not deliver Lawan in his local government in 2023 and the SW, the traditional home of the APC in the south will have no motivation to work for the party and neither OUK, Hope nor anyone else can deliver him in the South. Lawan is no match for Atiku in any geopolitical zone.

OUK and his backers can not engineer the SE or SS to become the new base of the APC in the South if the SW backs out.

Another candidate from the north in the APC after 8 years of a Buhari is not in the interest of the Igbo or Nigeria. It is sickening. A lacklustre Lawan makes it worse.

I am convinced that those playing the Lawan game are those who are working for an Atiku presidency.