Chief Chekwas Okorie, national chairman of the United Progressives Party, UPP and before then chairman and founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA has noted that he is still in possession of the full communiqué of what the late Biafra warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu discussed with President (General) Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview with Vanguard, Chief Okorie was reacting following a broadcast made by President Buhari where he recalled with nostalgia his meeting in Daura with Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu before 2003.
It will be recalled that President Buhari said through his broadcast that he, and Ojukwu had an agreement that Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable, following secession agitation by the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Speaking, Okorie said; “First of all, I was the chairman of Odumegwu Ojukwu’s political party, that is, I was the chairman of APGA that fielded the late Odumegwu Ojukwu as a presidential candidate; so I can tell you authoritatively that I was privy to that meeting in Daura.
“I was not there physically but upon his return he gave me a copy of the communiqué. It was not an agreement as such. It was a communiqué actually and that visit was to reciprocate an earlier visit that Gen. Buhari paid to him at Enugu, accompanied by late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo who was his running mate at that time. And he reciprocated that visit by going this time with Dr. Tim Menakeya because I was very busy with party matters and then, they had to go.
“Yes Gen. Buhari was not entirely out of place about what had transpired but the word “non-negotiable” was never used. As I said it was a communiqué which two of them signed. The key words in that direction were that they called for Nigerian unity, oneness and indivisibility and in this unity, oneness and indivisibility; it will be anchored on justice, equity and fair play.
“The word non-negotiable was never used and it did not appear in that communiqué whose copy I still have. Having said that the late Odumegwu Ojukwu has never believed in the kind of unity that Nigeria has and he variously described the unity we have in Nigeria, as the unity of Jonah and the whale; that Jonah was in the belly of the whale, a very dark environment, very uncomfortable and the whale carried him and you wouldn’t call that unity.
“He always wanted a unity where everybody would breathe the same air of freedom, the same air of justice, of liberty and of equity. I want everybody to know that I am talking authoritatively outside of politics. I had a very close liaison with late Odumegwu Ojukwu for 22 years and there are so many things that he said repeatedly that I can very easily quote him on word for word.
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