By CHARLES IWUOHA

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has urged South-East people to get fully involved and participate actively in politics to emancipate themselves from political marginalisation.

Okorie, founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and deregistered National Chairman of United Progressive Party (UPP), gave the task on Sunday in a seminar in Enugu while speaking on the topic, ‘Repositioning Ndi-Igbo for National Progress’.

The seminar was organised by The New Enugu Project, with the theme, ‘Stake Holders Summit 2021: Leadership Beyond Politics’.

Okorie emphasised that participation and holding political dominance in the country holds the key to emancipating the people of the South-East from continuous cry of marginalisation.

He said: “We must get actively involved in politics and participate in it down to voting and following it up until results are announced.

“The quest for Nigeria President of South-East extraction come 2023 is highly possible and we have overwhelming numbers scattered everywhere in the country.

“We have not put in our industry and hard work to make politics work for us. Just as it seems politics or people in politics control other aspects of our national life directly or indirectly.

“In each state of the federation and FCT excluding the South-East; we are the second largest populated tribe apart from the dominant tribe or nation of such a state. So, we have the numbers.”

On the growing insecurity in the zone, Okorie said that the insecurity in the South-East could have been sponsored by persons outside the zone for political gain and to “deny us our 2023 Presidential pursuit.”

According to him, recent political rhetoric from other parts of the country by respected leaders suggested this.

“Initially, I did not want to believe this; but recent events have made me think in this direction,” he said.

The UPP boss also supported the national assembly’s review and amendment of some certain provisions of the Constitution to reflect the realities of the time and dynamism of Nigerians’ way of life.

Earlier, the Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Archdiocese, Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, urged leaders in all spheres to take responsibility and ensure accountability to the people.

Chukwuma, who was represented by Rev. Ifeanyi Agu, said that leaders must learn to build trust by communicating their visions and programmes to the people meant to arouse active followership.

“Accountability helps a leader to utilise resources judiciously, and helps them to work towards development,” he said.

Hon Chima Obieze, member representing Ezeagu State Constituency, said that “leadership is all about having the interest of others at heart,” and striving to make or be a positive impact on others.

“Leadership is all about service and bringing solutions to issues and challenges of other people,” Obieze said.

The Executive Directive of The New Enugu Project, Mr. Ekene Uzodinma, noted that today’s leaders must take responsibility for building a progressive nation for the benefit of future generations.

“In the past 20 years, we have experienced all forms of politics and political manoeuvres; but we have not seen a sound example of leadership with responsibility and accountability.

“It is time we as electorates and followers begin to ask questions and interrogate the status quo,” Uzodinma, who vied for Enugu State Governorship Election under the UPP, said.

A participant, Mr. Obinna Ozor, said that the seminar had aroused his consciousness to solve local challenges in his village in Obinufia Ndino community in Udi Local Government Area of the state.

The seminar also witnessed the award of Excellence in Youth Development given to five distinguished Nigerians, including the former Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, and the Executive Director of LEAD Network, Mr. Chukwuma Okenwa.

The event was used to launch a 144-page book titled, ‘Challenging The Status Quo’, written by Uzodinma.

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