Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene is the National Vice President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and also Zonal Coordinator of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in the South East. He was part of the team that received former President Olusegun Obasanjo and leader of Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, at the National Secretariat of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu, for a condolence visit over the demise of first republic aviation minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi.

He spoke with MAGNUS EZE on the significance of the visit, the Peter Obi Presidency and why Nigeria must not relent in enthroning a new order, among other issues. 

Today, you have ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, visiting the Ohanaeze National secretariat possibly in the spirit of advancing the national discourse ahead next year’s elections. What’s your take?

This reminds me of 2002 when Justice Eze Ozobu was the leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and I was appointed the Ambassador of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Europe for six years and I was his political adviser. I was given an address to deliver at the World Igbo Congress in Houston, USA, to declare All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the Igbo party and Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as its presidential candidate, believing that the PDP would disappoint Ndigbo as what happened this time around. So, it’s a continuation of that action and probably, that might be why I was chosen as the zonal coordinator, now that we are fighting for a person of Igbo extraction to be president of Nigeria. We had voted all the tribes in Nigeria; and we believe that they should support us now as we had supported them. That’s why the Afenifere and other cultural organisations under the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum are leading the campaign for justice, equity and fairness, for it to come to the Igbo nation. 

Some persons in the PDP and APC say that Labour Party lacks the structure to win the presidential election. As the zonal coordinator of the Peter Obi campaign for the South East, what has the experience been as you follow the campaign train?

They’re talking about stomach structure and food and drinks structure but we have human structure; we have those who are willing and determined to take back their country and not those playing pranks. So, what’s structure? Human beings are the structure; not buildings, not beer and champagnes and all those mundane things they frolic with. We have a very solid structure. If you have people like Obasanjo, Pa Ayo Adebanjo including other prominent Nigerians; then the teeming youth who are fed up with Nigeria and need a new Nigeria, I don’t know what other structure they are talking about. These prominent Nigerians have seen it all in this country and with the support of angry Nigerians who need genuine change, nobody can stop this movement. So, I am not afraid of this their talk about structure. And I know that in the South East, irrespective of political differences, the people will give Labour Party above 80 percent vote.

The support base of Labour Party is the youth but some school of thought believe that the other political parties can still sway them with monetary inducement. What is your party doing about that?

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The youths we have now are very resilient; they are not what we used to have. They can collect anything from you and still vote their conscience. These people are the worst hit by the situation in the country. Imagine a doctorate degree holder riding keke and doing other demeaning jobs; they are tired, angry and frustrated. What happened during the EndSARS protest will give you an idea of how the youths feel in Nigeria but they want it peacefully and they believe that they will get it through the ballot box backing Peter Obi and the Labour Party. So, Labour Party is the last hope of the youths and future of Nigeria. Regarding the three frontliners in the presidential race; the youths know what they want. Somebody who passed through the university up to doctorate is idle and you say he doesn’t know what he wants. What he wants is not ewa, agbado, emilokan, it’s my turn and other things. They want a man who knows what the times demand; a man who never said vote for me because of my religion, tribe or person but vote for me if you see that I have what it takes to make Nigeria work again.

You have been part of Obi’s campaign train to some states. What has the reception been?

It’s been very tremendous but this is Nigeria; this is Africa. We don’t want to be taken unawares. We know we have teeming supporters but we are working towards all-inclusiveness. The way we are moving; we don’t have any opposition or enemy; we believe with time, all these so-called structures that these professional politicians are talking about, will all crash into Labour Party. Let me tell you, this is a divine intervention; it’s moving like kerosine, just permeating the ground, day in and day out. It’s not up to six months that this movement with the Labour Party started, but you can see that it has overtaken parties with all the structures for more than 20 years. Today, Labour Party is the leading political party in Nigeria and no candidate has been nationally accepted the way the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi is nationally accepted in the nation’s recent history. By the end of January, I believe we can get to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. In the party, people volunteer to do or sponsor things; there’s no highest bidder in Labour Party. Anywhere you go, even if you don’t provide ordinary sachet water, people still troop out; they are happy and want to be part of the evolving new Nigeria. They don’t see it that they are working for Peter Obi, including me. We believe that we are working for ourselves; for the future of Nigeria.

There have been persistent attacks on your party members and supporters in parts of the country; some of them have been killed. What’s the party doing about that?

Those behind this heist are doing it because they know we are their problem; that Obi’s victory will stop all their illegalities and fraudulent administration. No criminal will allow you to catch him; he will do everything to instead catch you. But by the will of God, we will arrest them without violence and we will convert them. We don’t want them dead; we want them alive to be part of the change. 

What’s your impression about the 70th birthday of Chief Nnia Nwodo, especially with the long list of dignitaries in attendance?

What you’re seeing today in Ohanaeze Ndigbo was started by Nwodo including the push for a South-Easterner to become President of Nigeria; it was him that laid the foundation with the Igbo summit in Awka, Anambra State in 2018 that produced the blueprint for restructuring. You heard what the bishop said in the church, that as at 27 years, Nwodo has risen to a nationalist and hasn’t disappointed. And I think that his last outing as the leader of the Igbo, as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide crowned all his efforts of being a true son of Igbo land.