The founder and pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has warned Igbo leaders against what he described as a growing threat of political violence in the South-East.
Okorie, who chairs the Igbo Agenda Dialogue, expressed concern over what he called a desperate attempt to gain political power through conquest rather than the ballot box.
In a statement on Tuesday, the elder statesman recalled that he wrote an open letter to President Bola Tinubu on March 12, 2026, titled “Halt the Brewing Anarchy in Nigeria.”
He said the letter drew the President’s attention to activities by state and non-state actors that could trigger a breakdown of law and order, urging him to take decisive action to address the situation.
“Obviously, my patriotic intervention did not seem to make any impression on the president,” Okorie lamented.
He cited an incident involving an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, who reportedly declared at a public event in Kano that Nigerians opposed to Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket should leave the country.
Okorie said the cleric also claimed that Muslims owned Nigeria, describing the remarks as provocative and inciting.
He criticised the Federal Government and security agencies for allegedly failing to publicly condemn the cleric’s comments, arguing that the perceived lack of response had emboldened other political actors.
According to him, the situation has now spread to the South-East, where he alleged that opposition parties can no longer safely organise public gatherings or rallies without facing attacks by heavily armed thugs.
“These attacks last for hours, resulting in severe injuries and loss of lives. In most of these incidents, the security agencies appear helpless. No arrests are ever recorded, at least to be able to trace their sponsors,” he said.
The APGA pioneer chairman also criticised what he described as excessive charges imposed by some South-East governments for campaign billboards, claiming that fees could run into hundreds of millions of naira for a single billboard.
He said the high charges had made campaign billboards scarce across the region, adding that opposition members had retaliated by pulling down billboards belonging to ruling parties in areas where they appeared.
Okorie warned that such actions could trigger further political tension and instability.
He called on Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who chairs the South-East Governors’ Forum, to convene an emergency meeting of governors in the region to address the deteriorating security situation.
“I call on Governor Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State and the Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, to convene an emergency and extraordinary meeting of the Southeast Governors as a matter of utmost urgency to nip in the bud the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Igboland,” he stated.
The elder statesman also expressed concern over ongoing conflicts in Nigeria’s North-West and North-East, arguing that the security challenges in those regions should serve as a warning to the South-East.
He cautioned that the region’s governors would be held accountable if Igboland descended into another war zone.
Okorie recalled the Nigerian Civil War, which ended in 1970, saying its scars and destruction remained evident in the former Eastern Region decades later.
He maintained that the Igbo people had survived the war and urged them to remain vigilant in protecting their political rights.
“Igbo votes for the 2027 elections can never be obtained by conquest. Ndigbo must remain vigilant and defend their franchise as we are known to do from creation,” he declared.
