Emeka
Ojukwu, son of late Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, says he was driven to join the
ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, by his belief that his home South-east
region must belong in national governance and the political decision-making
process of Nigeria.
Mr. Ojukwu said this when he was formally
received into the APC by the party’s leadership, led by its National Chairman,
John Odigie-Oyegun.
Mr.
Ojukwu earlier declared for the APC from the All Progressives Grand Alliance,
APGA, in Awka at a rally ahead of the November 18 Anambra governorship
election.
“I
decided to lead by example. I have been talking about this for a while and I
decided it was time to take the step forward,” he said on Wednesday.
“It
is a challenge, there are some people that will not be happy about that. But
you have to be bold, take a step and let people understand where you are coming
from and why you are doing what you are doing,” he said.
“APC has been seen in our part of the country as the ‘other’ and I believe we are now showing that the APC is a party that can contend equally with any other party in the South East and do just as well.
“We
now know that Igbo people are part of the APC, the APC are part of Igbo and
Igbo are valued part of the Nigerian nation.”
“We
hit around the 25 per cent mark in terms of votes in the Anambra election,
which is not bad given where we are coming from. I think in the future, we are
going to do a lot better.”
“Let
me say this about my father: we shouldn’t take our history and our past to be
shackles that hold us in one place. Rather they should be stepping stones and
building blocks to get us moving towards the future.
“When
my father came back from exile, he had the option to join an ethnic-based party
but he chose to move to the centre and there was a reason for that.
“You
need to be at the table where decisions are being made. If you are not there,
you will always get the short end of the stick, you will be marginalised. That
is the message I want to help to propagate.
“This
is a much bigger party than the one I came from, so I put myself at your
service to help us achieve our dreams. For me, anyway that I can help to push
this message forward, I am ready,” he told the party leaders.
Formally receiving Mr. Ojukwu into the party, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said his entry
would be a major asset in the APC’s ongoing drive to mainstream the South-east
in national governance and political decision-making process in the APC.
- Premium Times
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