Ekwueme explodes ■ Why Jonathan won’t get block votes in South-East

Though it was not a Sunday, Dr Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President, who had a scheduled interview appointment, took The Sun team to his chapel, a sanctuary in the upper chamber of the right wing of his house.

He had led the way from his living room to climb the staircase to the chapel, explain­ing that it was the only place the interview could be held without much distraction from visitors.
After we had ascended the ‘holy’ up­per chamber, we began the business of the day that lasted for about two hours, with the octogenarian looking at the country, remembering what had happened as if they occurred just yesterday, appraising power equations from independence in 1960 till now.
Dr Ekwueme, who co-founded the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) with some other illustrious Nigerians, also looked at the current state of the party, saying that things have fallen apart in the PDP envi­sioned to be a mass movement that would rule the country for 60 years.
He also told the story of how the party has derailed from the original vision of the founders, and how the leadership has aban­doned him.
Looking at the crises rocking the PDP across the country, he said that he was not sure if the successes of the past would be the same during the February elections.
He pointedly said that President Good­luck Jonathan may not be fortunate again to have overwhelming support like he had in the past in the South-East, saying that he had taken the zone for granted.
Dr Ekwueme spoke just as there are vo­ciferous voices from the South-East, alleg­ing unfair treatment by the Jonathan admin­istration. It would be recalled that when Dr Ekwueme turned 80, the president did not attend the ceremony, but he was in Lagos to attend the birthday of Dr Tunji Braithwaite. Former Abia State governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, had written President Jonathan then, pointing out the possible oversight, but the president reportedly minuted the letter to Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who merely laughed the matter off.
Just on New Year eve, Catholic priest, Father Ejike Mbaka, had also delivered a sermon, which was very critical of the Jona­than administration. In fact, the priest asked the president to step out of general elections coming up next month, as he would not get a second term in office.
sun news has the Excerpts of the interview with Dr Ek­wueme:

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