Frank Nweke takes APGA campaign to UNN, delivers lecture on Igbo marginalisation
Frank Nweke Jr, All Progressives Grand Alliance Grand Alliance (APGA) governoship candidate in Enugu State was at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) to deliver a lecture on igbo marginalisation.
At the Faculty of Arts Distinguished Lecture Series, the former Minister of Information also received award for excellence in leadership.
Nweke Jnr and his team were received in the school by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charles Arizechukwu Igwe, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Patrick Uchenna Okpoko, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Professor Obi-Ani and the Head of the English and Literary Studies Department and Chairman, Local Organizing Committee for the lecture, Professor Stella Okoye.
The lecture with the theme: “Reclaiming Our Identity: Politics and Development in Igboland” was the first edition for 2023.
In his detailed presentation, Nweke addressed the subject of Igbo marginalisation in Nigeria, the call for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, agitations for a sovereign state of Biafra and the leadership vacuum in the southeast, which he claimed was responsible for the current challenges experienced by the region.
The APGA gubernatorial candidate opined that while the exclusion of the southeast from mainstream governance at the federal level was indisputable, it remained only a fraction of the cause of the region’s current regional predicament. He took the audience through a history of southeasterners who had occupied several federal positions through the years without commensurate benefits to the southeast.
Nweke further buttressed his point by sharing the exploits of Dr Michael Okpara, and the successes recorded in the southeast in the late 1950s and early 1960s, calling on leaders and citizens to “demand and work for another Michael Okpara moment.”
“We need the rebirth of vision and courage, determination and industry, ambition and success to create an Aladimma worthy of the potential that the Almighty has so generously endowed our people with,” he added.
Nweke called for collaboration and a shared vision for ndigbo, a renewed appreciation for their history and a revival of the values that drove leaders such as Okpara.
The session ended with the bestowal of an award for Excellence in Leadership by the Faculty of Arts, presented by a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Nnanyelugo Okoro.
The deputy gubernatorial candidate of the APGA, Dr Edith Ugwuanyi and the party’s Chairman in Enugu, Ndubuisi EnechiOnyia, the House of Representatives candidate representing Enugu North and South Federal Constituency, Nonso Nnamani were also present at the event.
