If it has been a chance encounter devoid of any formal introduction or any identification tag like a badge that gave him away as representing a completely different political party, you would have been forgiving—on listening to him—to have identified him either as the spokesperson or one of the key chieftains of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
This is because what he says and what is contained in his party manifesto have some starling resemblance with the progressive proclivity of the main opposition party. But he dismissed the opposition party as “the other side of the same coin” of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in part because of the heavy presence of the ruling party’s former members in the new opposition party.
What becomes crystal clear in a discourse with him is that he knows the fundaments of the problems of the country he’s seeking to lead, as well as a clear understanding of how they can be solved and articulates same with anecdotes.
He is Chief (Dr.) Chekwas Okorie, the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP). He espouses some ideas that are truly to the far left of the ideological spectrum (if there’s such thing as ideology) of the two main political parties which he calls a “revolutionary agenda.”In a country that looks pathetic and frustratingly hopeless where poor leadership is as constant as the northern star, listening to Chekwas Okorie enunciate the path that Nigeria must take to catch up with the rest of the developed world is without doubt a welcome relief that all hopes may not have been lost, after all.
Chief Okorie is no doubt a key stakeholder in the Southeast geo-political zone, but he transcends his immediate geographical space as evidenced from his many political antecedents that span many years across the country’s political landscape. Behind a quiet demeanor and a cherubic face that could compel one to place a bet that this prince from Amaeke Alayi in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State is yet to reach the golden age lies a steely resolve to putting the country on the right trajectory for growth. Chief Okorie, 62, is not one of your run-of-the-mill presidential wannabe. His views on such hot-button issues like corruption, insecurity and the country’s constitution sets him apart from other pack of presidential candidates in the coming polls, even from the candidates of the two major political parties.
Having re-defined corruption as mere stealing, coupled with Babangida’s declaration—whom the vast majority of Nigerians believed to have ‘liberalized’ corruption during his regime—that he’s a saint compared to the level of corruption under Jonathan’s watch, Nigerians no longer expect President Jonathan to do anything about this hydra-headed monster that has already outgrown the polity. But Chief Okorie believes that a multi-faceted approach must be applied to tackling corruption effectively. “The tendency, which has largely been ineffectual, has been chasing about people at the lowest level who are easily thrown into detention in the name of fighting corruption, while the top of the corruption echelon is largely left untouched. This cannot discourage the attitude and the conduct that breeds corruption,” he said. He says his party has specifically a two-pronged approach in drastically curtailing corruption, if not its elimination altogether. “To begin with, every public officer whether elected or appointed from the position of directors in the ministries and parastatals to president must declare their assets publicly. The president (Jonathan) did not declare his assets publicly because the law didn’t mandate him to do that.” He added: “This public declaration of the assets of public officers will be renewed every year as long our party is in government as this will enable Nigerians to be part of monitoring the growth of the assets of public officials.” The second approach of the UPP presidential candidate to fight the corruption monster is the immunity clause that is entrenched in the nation’s constitution. He believes that the immunity clause is being flagrantly abused by those public office holders who are protected by the clause. “Those who enjoy this immunity have used it with impunity. So, we’re saying that immunity should be limited to civil matters. All criminal matters must be subjected to criminal prosecution should anybody be accused irrespective of your position whether you’re the president or whatever.” Okorie is also not happy with the so-called security vote, that anomalous constitutional provision that has not only deepened corruption but also protects it. Pressed to explain further, he says he believes it is another area that has been subjected to so much abuse. “I know of some state governors that earns up to about N600 million every month on security votes…. They receive this free money from their states no matter whether or not salaries of civil servants are paid or whether some recurrent expenditure matters are settled or not. This money is not accounted for. So we’re saying as a party that this money must not only be accounted for but must also be limited to security matters.”
Far from advocating a welfare state” if he wins the March 28 poll, Chief Okorie believes that Nigerians who, for some reason, has benefitted tremendously from the wealth of the nation should pay proportionate amounts of their wealth through various forms of taxes. He says anybody who has worked hard enough to make a legitimate earning is entitled to the fruits of his legitimate endeavor. They should be able to live the kind of opulence they desire as long as they’re making legitimate earnings. But collectively, they also have a greater responsibility to pay more through taxes. He admitted the fact that the tax laws are in place but that Nigerians, particularly the rich ones, observe these laws in the breach. “We cannot continue to flout our own laws and expect to get far in our developmental efforts. It’s very curious that we want to be like the developed countries of Europe and North America but we’re never enthusiastic to doing the things which make these countries to be the great countries that they are. Regardless of the resource endowments of these countries, tax collections are the major sources of their revenue,” he declared. He says just as collection of taxes would be scrupulously enforced under his party’s watch, tax evasion would also be treated with disdain. “Tax evasion to us is a criminal offence against the state. It’s sabotage against the economy of the country. Therefore, sanctions on tax evasion will be very severe under our administration. We will also treat fraudulent tax assessments by government officials who assist people to pay little or no tax as sabotage against the economy of the state.” Community policing and state police are very fundamental to the insecurity problem, so “we believe in these security components” as “every citizen becomes an equal stakeholder on the issue of security.”
“You may well know that separation is a process that is, among other things, subject to referendum. You may discover that the majority of the people in the referendum would wish to remain. Ethiopia is an example. There were internecine wars among different Ethiopian ethnic groups for a very long time. The wars did not solve their problems until they went for reconciliation and all the ethnic nationalities came together and had a more acceptable constitution and then had an exit clause.
What this means is that those with the mandate to rule at any given time are aware that all the ethnic groups that make up Ethiopia have the option to exit, therefore justice and fairness to all became their watchwords. Up till today, no ethnic nationality has taken advantage of the clause. The other one was just late last year between Scotland and Britain. Despite the long and vehement agitation, the Scottish people decided to remain in Great Britain after a referendum. In Canada, practically every ten years the French-speaking people of Quebec have a referendum and each time they did, they never opted out. They’re not forced to remain in Canada, but the majority of their people say they’re better off in a bigger Canada. And that is the benefit of exit clause,” he said matter-of-fact.
On how he now feels about walking away from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)—which has made him to go on record as the first Igbo man to ever found and register a political party in Nigeria— behind him. “Why not,” he quipped. But almost in the same breadth, he looked a bit sober, reflective and sounded philosophical. “You see, it is so very difficult for a father to put behind him the issue of his child. But when your child is dead, you still remember that you had a child. But you can’t bring back a dead child. It was with a heavy heart when I left APGA. I took the certificate of registration of APGA in my possession and returned it to INEC voluntarily with a letter. I called all my lawyers to disengage from all the courts cases that were pending concerning APGA. I made a profound statement which was widely published that I have left APGA with the soul and spirit of the party and it was going to reincarnate in another platform. And that what I left with them was a mere carcass. In fact, I said in another statement that it was a decomposing carcass. Well, it turned out to be rather prophetic, some said it was a curse but I don’t curse. The party has not recovered since.” APGA may not have recovered from its self-induced decapitation. Chief Chekwas Okorie has not only recovered from the loss of a ‘child’ he sired and nurtured to adulthood but now devoid of a soul and a spirit, as he claims, but he had since given birth to another ‘child’ called the United Progressive Party (UPP), in whose name he hopes to steer the ship of the Nigerian nation in the next political dispensation.
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