After a long drawn bitter
struggle for the soul of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance
between Chiefs Chekwas Okorie
and Victor Umeh, which had split
the party’s rank and file down
the line and which ended as
Okorie finally accepted his faith,
surrendered the party’s
registration certificate and
formed his own party, I had
thought the South-east-based
party had seen its worst. I was
wrong; we were all wrong,
because I know I was n’t alone in
that thought.
Now, another leadership struggle
is on and the too warring
chairmen are proxies of the two
governors produced by the party
who are fighting a supremacy
battle for the control of APGA
machinery.
Umeh, who was on February 10
restrained from parading himself
as APGA chairman by a state High
Court in Enugu presided over by
the Chief Judge of the state,
Justice Innocent Umezuluike, was
on Monday reinstated by the
Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu
pending the determination of his
appeal against the lower court.
Meanwhile, shortly before the
court ruling, Maxi Okwu was
elected the party’s chairman at a
national convention held at the
Women Development Centre,
Akwa, Anambra State attended
by some leaders of the party
including, and expectedly, its
Deputy National Leader, Anambra
State Governor Peter Obi. Now,
Umeh claims he is APGA
chairman, just like Okwu, who
even had to abandon his own
party CPP to hop on APGA.
Okwu says Umeh’s reinstatement
is a hoax, Umeh says Okwu’s
election at a convention in Akwa
is a nullity. Only the court can
help resolve the matter. But what
has inflamed the APGA leadership
crisis is the emergence of the
opposition merger All
Progressives Congress.
Imo State Governor Rochas
Okorocha who has some hold on
Umeh believes in the merger and
insists APGA is part of it. But
Governor Obi who ostensibly has
brought up the Okwu’s
chairmanship is opposed to the
merger, being an ally of President
Jonathan, and says APGA is not
for APC.
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