Chief Chekwas Okorie, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has described call by some people for his arrest over his claims to the party as gratuitous and preposterous.
Okorie in a statement made available to Elendu Reports said such a call was made either as a result of a lack of understanding of the issues being canvassed or as a deliberate attempt to obfuscate a legitimate call for a just cause
“The call for my arrest is not only gratuitous, but it is also a preposterous demand that either lacks understanding of the issues being canvassed or is a deliberate attempt to obfuscate a legitimate call for a just cause. Leadership is not a toga you wear only when it’s comfortable or serves your pecuniary interests,” he said.
He said those calling for his arrest were not there when he founded the party in 2002.
“I founded APGA in 2002. None of these individuals was there. When brigands were sponsored to destroy APGA, and billions of naira spent to fight me, I chose to step aside so as not to destroy a vision that encapsulates the political aspirations of Ndigbo,” he explained.
According to him, he voluntarily surrendered the certificate of the party to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2012.
“INEC wrote to me in 2009 to reaffirm my chairmanship of APGA. These are facts that can be checked by the relevant agencies. It is also in my book, APGA and the Igbo Question.”
“A delegation was led to my home to apologise and plead with me to return to the party I founded by Chief Edozie Njoku and the NWC.”
“I really had no option but to accept and I re-registered as a member.”
“My activism and political struggles over the past 46 years have been about Ndigbo; their welfare in greater Nigeria and a better country where we all exist and progress as a nation.”
“People who are beneficiaries of fraudulent practices are panicked because the truth has come out.
I have long expected them to throw everything they have at me. Nigeria’s security agencies are well aware of my residence.”