- Party Says Is Only Opposed To The Scant Strategy Adopted By “Ndigbo-Chop-Sand-Band” Of Politicians.
The All Progressive Congress, APC, South East Chapter today said that it is not any way opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan contesting for the 2015 presidential election as the party said he has the right to do so.
Responding on the endorsement of President Jonathan by some PDP Members from the Zone under the shade of a pro-Jonathan group, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) which held its rally in Awka the Anambra State Capital yesterday, the party in a statement signed APC South East Spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, said even though it is not opposed to the inalienable and constitutional right of Jonathan to contest, it was “however opposed to the scant strategy adopted by “Ndigbo-Chop-Sand-Band” of politicians, who crave to put all our eggs in one basket, foreclose the chances of president of Igbo extraction and subject the hard working and enterprising Igbos to perpetual beggarly status.
“They overstretch the stereo-type of Ndigbo Chopping-Sand since after the Civil War, therefore Jonathan’s victory will compel our contemporaries, the Yorubas and the Hausas to join in Chopping Sand,” Mr. Okechukwu said.
Speaking further it said: “Ndigbo-Chop-Sand-Band drummers are not interested in whether President Jonathan performed or not, whether he honoured the promises he made to Ndigbo during the 2011 electioneering campaign or whether his presidential slot impedes on the chances of our producing a president of Igbo extraction in the nearest future.’
“Otherwise, how come that up till date there is no Environmental Impact Assessment, no private sector counterpart funding, only N30b Sure-P-Fund taxed from the people and most importantly, why is the second Niger Bridge not captured in the federal budget, since according to the drummers Jonathan so loves Ndigbo?
“The Chop-Sand-Band thinks that Ndigbo’s memory is so short to forget that it was His Royal Majesty, the Obi of Onitsha, Agbogidi, Igwe Alfred Nnaemaka Achebe, who in February this year, woke our dear president from deep slumber over the promise he made on the 2nd Niger Bridge; upon which fire service approach of Public, Private Partnership was enacted.
“Or is it not amusing that Professor Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power, one of the drummers, who talked of Grand Expectation Journey (GEJ), couldn’t tell Ndigbo why the coal project has not taken off and what happened to N927m, N1.7b and N1.1b budgeted for the study survey of Enugu and Gombe Coal in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively? The revamping of coal was one of our grand expectation journey, premised on the promise made by Jonathan at South East PDP Zonal rally during the 2011 electioneering campaign, yet he so loves Ndigbo!
“In sum, our fear is that the core ingredient of election, which is a referendum on the performance of the incumbent may not prevail, as the Chop-Sand-Band are constructing a scenario where President Jonathan, like in 2011, would be allocated millions of votes in the South East, without commensurate performance.”
Among the PDP leaders from the South East who were at the occasion and who joined their voice in Mr. President to contest are Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Josephine Anenih, Arthur Eze; former Governor, Peter Obi and Emeka Ihedioha Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
