Chief Chekwas Okorie is the pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Convener of the Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD). In this interview with FELIX NWANERI, he speaks on political developments ahead of the 2027 general election and the Igbo struggle in Nigeria, among other issues

Your group, the Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD) what it termed the first Igbo political summit; what do you intend to achieve with the summit?

The Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD) that was inaugurated in August 2025 as a non-partisan socio-political platform is planned to be a coalition of all the associations, organisations and unions to constitute a powerful non-partisan Igbo political grid. The key highlight of the summit will be the unveiling of the first Igbo Charter after the famous Ahiara Declaration.

So, I urge all patriotic Igbo men and women, youth associations, unions and institutions to support the IAD by all lawful means possible to deliver on the noble objective of reawakening the Igbo political consciousness. We have the capacity to redraw the Nigerian political map by simply taking our destiny in our own hands.

We have no excuse to be irrelevant or beggarly in our common patrimony called Nigeria. A resurgent Igbo beyond where our founding fathers left it is possible in our time. A unified and proactive political action in the 2027 general election will draw both local and international attention to the Igbo nation. The time is now or never. This time calls for Igbo unity, wisdom and prayers.

Igbo people in the 13 states, where they are indigenous and in the other 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory, have been facing existential challenges and problems since the end of the Nigeria/Biafra war in 1970. We have survived, thrived, multiplied and prospered only by the special grace of God and our doggedness, resilience and never-say-die spirit.

Millions of our people were compelled by excruciating circumstances to seek more conducive environments abroad for greener pastures, including education and acquisition of skills to improve their well-being and provide for their families and relations back in the homeland.

On the flip side, this near exodus of fleeing Igbo people from Nigeria has resulted in making the record that there are Igbo settlements in every one of the 196 countries on the world map. Similarly, the Igbo people in the diaspora contribute to approximately 75 per cent of Nigeria’s huge foreign exchange remittances year in year out. Sadly, Ndigbo appear to have surrendered and lost confidence in their citizenship of Nigeria.

Overwhelming majority of our people refuse to participate in the country’s democratic process. The resultant apathy is largely responsible for the poor leadership recruitment we experience at the national, state and local government levels in every election cycle in Nigeria. This has further exacerbated our already precarious situation. But I am of the firm belief that we can reverse our unacceptable situation without firing a shot.

We are unarguably the ethnic nationality with the largest population and widest geographical spread in Nigeria. We have the most enviable network of associations, unions, groups in Nigeria and the diaspora. We are like a sleeping giant that only needs to awaken from its self-induced slumber to resume its place of pride in the country.

Is it not clear that the political base you made reference to is no longer what it was in 2023 given the defections that seem to have altered the political equation ahead of the 2027 elections?

Honestly, I am not impressed one bit by the defections that have occurred recently in the South-East and other southern states. Let me not say all of them but about 80 per cent of the defectors are people who already have liabilities on their shoulders, so everybody knows the reason for those defections.

But look at it this way: In 2023 and for the first time in Nigeria, six serving governors lost their respective bids to go the Senate. Going to the Senate for governors after serving eight years used to be a walk-over for them as the Senate has turned to a retirement chamber but six of them lost out.

This is because there was some semblance of credible election in terms of transmission of results real time and people getting more aggrieved over the situation in the country due to actions of those in power and there is no other opportunity they have to express their grievances except through elections.

Those who have defected are people with immense political liability… and the result will show that they are like generals without troops when the 2027 elections come

So, for all those who have defected; watch out what will happen to them in the next elections. I will give you one very simple example that everybody should reflect on.

In the same 2023 elections, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa, was a serving governor but he couldn’t deliver Delta State to his party at the time.

Obi not only defeated both Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu in Delta, but some people leveraged his support base in the state to get elected into the National Assembly on the platform of Labour Party.

So, those who have defected are people with immense political liability by my assessment and I don’t believe that they defected with the people and the result will show that they are like generals without troops when the 2027 elections come.

Those who have defected are people with immense political liability… and the result will show that they are like generals without troops when the 2027 elections come .

Some people are saying there should be electoral reforms before the 2027 elections; where do you stand on that?

There is immense need for further electoral reforms because we’ve been having these reforms up to the point that we are now talking about transmission of election results and all that and the National Assembly has given the indication that it is ready.

They’ve held all the necessary public hearings, starting with the INEC Bill that introduced several areas for amendment and the public memoranda for all of that. Then they have promised that the new electoral law will be available by end of December but I don’t see the possibility of that happening.

However, if they are not able to make further amendments because of their complicity, the one that was used for the 2023 elections can still serve its purpose. The important thing is for the electorate to be conscious, be vigilant and monitor their votes.

As I said, the 2027 general election is really going to be very tough because the people have many reasons to go out there to vote. Many Nigerians are angry over the present situation and the only opportunity they have to express that anger in practical terms is the election. I don’t see Nigerians sitting back at home and allow the same people who have made their lives miserable to continue in office without expressing their anger.

What do you make of the twists and turns over the clamour for the creation of an additional state for the South-East, especially the demand that the proposed Anioma State be ceded to the zone when created?

By my understanding, most people want the proposed Anioma State to be created. But if you create Anioma State and fail to cede it to the South-East to take the number of states in the zone to six, it will give the South-South seven states, which the rest of the zones will not accept.

So, the insistence by some of their traditional rulers that the proposed Anioma State should remain in the SouthSouth when created, is a subtle way of saying that they don’t want the state to be created. If you create Anioma State and cede it to the South-East, it will give the zone six states and the South-South, SouthWest, North Central and North-East will still have six states each, leaving only the North-West with seven states.

That will ensure more balance and I don’t see any disadvantage that Anioma people will suffer for belonging to the South-East. If you go to the Anioma part of Delta State, you will massive investments going on there by people from the SouthEast, who have seen the place as a very conducive place for investment.

They have not allowed the river boundary to divide people who are of the same ethnic nationality. Another aspect that many of the young ones don’t understand is that before Midwest Region was created out of the Western Region is that Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his party, the Action Group, vehemently opposed the agitation.

But Chief Dennis Osadebey, who was a chieftain of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and vice president of the party as the deputy national chairman of the party was called then, in collaboration with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the leader of the NCNC had gone into coalition with the ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC).

It was the coalition that led to the support for the creation of Midwest Region as the NCNC and NPC voted for in favour of a plebiscite, which some people will refer to as a referendum today, and ensured that the plebiscite succeeded. If there was no such collaboration, the Midwest Region would not have been created. I don’t know how many young ones today will remember that type of collaboration.

And for this Anioma to be created, the people of the South-East have to sacrifice their numerous agitations such as Adada State, Aba State and Etiti State, among others to just have one state call Anioma, so that they will not say we are divided. So, it is unfortunate that one or two traditional rulers from the area are saying that instead of having Anioma State that would be ceded to the South-East, they prefer to remain in Delta State and the South-South.

Do you see the present administration creating a new state given the hurdles involved?

The constitution makes it practically impossible for a civilian government to create a new state because of the stringent conditions injected into the constitution by the military regime that imposed the constitution on Nigerians.

That is why no administration since 1999 has been able to create a new state despite the perennial agitation for more states. Those obstacles are still there, so I don’t see the possibility of the Tinubu administration creating Anioma State not to talk of where it would be ceded to.