Will APGA take over South East?

Written by Christian Okeke
Tuesday, 21 June 2011



With the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now controlling almost all the states in the South-West zone of the country and with the 2011 general election now over, Christian Okeke writes on the future of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which was perceived at a time as an Igbo party, and the quest by the party to emerge as the dominant party in the South-East political landscape.

Proverbially, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has proven to be a cat with nine lives. This is so as the party has survived long and unnecessary intra-party squabbles which threatened to tear it apart and drown its objectives.  Precisely on June 24, 2002, APGA got registered as a political party in the country with massive acceptance, especially in the South-East zone. It has as its motto: Be your brother’s keeper.   Having been launched, the party did not waste time to unfold its manifesto, adjudged the best among the nation’s political parties at the time. With time, intra-party crisis broke out and began to shake the party’s foundation and threaten its mass acceptance and rising profile.

On January 19, 2003, APGA held its first national convention at the Old Parade Ground in Garki, Abuja. It was, however, a paradox of sort that as the party members swivel in the euphoria of the auspicious event, little did they know that the occasion was going to be the last national convention that the party was going to hold in five years.

The leadership crisis which later engulfed the party was unanticipated, avoidable, ill-motivated and unnecessary. From December 15, 2004, when the leadership crisis broke out till few months ago, it was a conspicuous battle of the titans for the soul of the party, with over 15 court cases filed by the factions led by Chief Chekwas Okorie and Chief Victor Umeh against each other, even up to the Supreme Court.

It was on records that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Umeh-led APGA met on January 11, 2005 and expelled its founding chairman, Okorie, from the party over what it called gross anti-party activities and particularly for attempting to sabotage the election petition filed by the party’s candidate in the 2003 governorship election in Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi.

The Umeh-led APGA, insisting that Mr. Obi won the April 19, 2003 election and determed to reclaim its first governorship victory, threw its weight behind Obi, from the tribunal to the Court of Appeal in Enugu where the court, in its ruling of March 15, 2006, declared Obi the winner. Consequently, Mr. Obi was sworn-in as governor on March 17, 2006, thus making Anambra the first state to be won by APGA in its quest to capture the entire five states in the South-East zone.

The ecstasy was however short-lived as the governor, through what was regarded as “an intricate web of conspiracy by opponents,” was unconstitutionally impeached at about 5.00 a.m. on Thursday, November 2, 2006, by 21 members of the state House of Assembly after about seven months in office.  He was later re-instated as the governor on February 9, 2007 by the Court of Appeal, sitting in Enugu. All the legal battles were for the party to retain its hold in the state.

Be that as it may, it is on records that while expectations were high that the party would maximally utilise its goodwill in the zone to extend its political net to the remaining states with the view to capture them, as well in the next general elections, the continuing leadership crisis prevailed and provided a clog in the wheel of progress for the young party. To that extent, while most supporters were disenchanted over the lingering imbroglio which was uncalled for and contrary to the “Be your brother’s keeper” tenent of the party, others were confused as to which of the factions to pitch tent with.

The brouhaha was so overbearing that efforts were not concentrated on reaching out to the remaining states in the zone and building formidable structures ahead of future polls.



In fact, as the 2011 general election approached, some aspirants, who wished to contest on the party’s platform, were confused as to the faction to be sympathetic to; others who did not want to jeopardise their chances hurriedly approached other political parties to utilise their platforms to realise their political ambition.

As the years ran out, the enthusiasm that greeted the registration of APGA began to wane to the extent that many people at the grassroots lost confidence in the party. The grievance of the once-upon-a-time supporters was understood as no one wanted to identify with a divided house and run into a collapsing roof.

However, as the pendulum swung in the direction of the Chief Umeh-led APGA, steps were taken to attract renowned individuals to vie for the governorship of their respective states on the party’s platform. To that effect, the party ensured the emergence of the following candidates: Owelle Rochas Okorocha, former presidential aspirant (Imo); Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu, former Minister of Culture and Tourism and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Greece (Ebonyi); Chief Obinna Obidiegwu (Enugu); and Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba (Abia.)

Prior to the 2011 elections, the major loss for APGA in Abia State, according to pundits, has to do with the failure of the governor, Theodore Orji to defect to the party. After weeks of intrigues and political horse-trading, the governor jettisoned all entreaties and rather pitched his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he believed his political future would not be drenched by the unpleasant rain of political miscalculation. That decision dealt a big blow also on the expectation of many citizens and residents of the state who had prayed for the governor to embrace APGA as a way to consolidate on the gains of the party in the zone and also give a boost to the dream of making the region an APGA stronghold.  Having lost the bid to convince Orji to join the APGA, the hurdle was set for the party to contest against the ruling PDP, the battle it sadly lost.

APGA also lost in Enugu and Ebonyi states despite the political heavyweights which it paraded as candidates. Again, the losts was largely attributed to the inability of the party to build political structure, strong enough to dismantle those of the incumbents.

In Imo, the reverse was, however, the case as APGA’s candidates Okorocha with his overwhelming influence defeated the then incumbent PDP candidate, Ikedi Ohakim. The victory did not, obviously, come without initial state party chapter’s squabbles that resulted in the earlier suspension of the party’s candidate Okorocha.



The truth which remained sacrosanct is the fact that in all APGA’s successes, the influence of its national leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu has been a strong factor. The former warlord, Ojukwu, seen as a symbol of Igbo strength and courage still commands huge respect in the entire South-East. Throughout Igboland, his acceptance was yet to dwindle significantly and it was his involvement in APGA, in addition to his numerous pleas for his kinsmen to join “the movement” that has so far sustained the party.

That also determines how far it can go in the future.

Pundits believe that both the governors of Anambra and Imo states, Mr Obi and Owelle Okorocha hold sway as to what will befall APGA in future polls, depending on their performances in office. Political analysts have argued that except Obi and Okorocha succeed in turning the lots of their respective states around, the dream of APGA capturing the entire eastern political landscape would remain a mirage.

In fact, it was in line with this argument that anxiety mounted within the APGA fold and beyond when cabinet members in Obi’s government started to resign their appointments in turn. The resignation had been adjudged as rejection of the government.

To worsen the situation, the lingering strike by a section of the workforce of the state, including the medical workers, has remained like a dangerous whitlow against the APGA government in Anambra State. Such strike was part of the reasons the people of the state in 2003 voted out the then governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, with his rather ‘alien’ Alliance for Democracy, (AD) in the state.

By and large, for the fortune of the party to improve in future elections, it is the expectation that the party starts to lay the foundation with immediate effect. This it can do by persuading its governors to deliver dividends of democracy to the people of the state, especially the grassroots.

It is clear that for this to come, the people must feel the impact of the government and note the difference between its ideologies and those of the previous governments in the state. Except this is done, it would be childish to anticipate that the electorate will cast sympathy votes for the party in the next general election.

There is no doubt that one of the hurdles which the party is likely to face in coming years is to upstage PDP’s structure in Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi States, especially if the governors perform well. To that extent, it will obviously prove difficult for APGA to capture the states, except, perhaps, through divine intervention.

To achieve result, it is instructive that the aggrieved stakeholders in the party come together to work for the progress of their party. This, of course, is the time for angry party-men in APGA to bury the hatchet and chart a common front in the South-East. But will APGA ever succeed in controlling the entire five states that make up the South-East zone? Only time will definitely tell.

Calculia:

APGA is the emerging giant in Nigeria political landscape, no doubt. Alot is resting on the performance of Gov Peter Obi and Gov Rochas. Their performance is all the Ideological and internal reform that is speculated the party needs to win even South/south, alongside the Southeast.

EzeUche!:

APGA has a great chance of capturing Abia and Ebonyi. But I am not sure about Enugu. Sullivan Chime is a performing governor and Enugu is a PDP stronghold.

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Ndigbo, please ignore the fool is trying to derail the thread.

High_Chief:

Yeah, Chime is doing just fine, but he was having problems with PDP before Nwodo resigned and I envisage that happening again during next election because He(Chime) would want to project a candidate which might not go down well with other PDP chieftains and this will present the opportunity for APGA, if APGA can get Enugu that means we are there already.

EzeUche!:

My prediction is that Abia is the next to fall for APGA. That is if Okorocha does a good job in Imo state. Abians are very connected to what is happening in Owerri.

Ebonyi state is very unknown to me. Of all the South-East states, Ebonyi is a state that I do not know much about.

OAM4J:

1st the party need a strong leader especially since Ikemba is no longer politically active. Who will lead APGA? is it Peter Obi or Rochas.

Also I am not sure if Peter Obi's performance is impressive enough to make the rest of SE follow APGA. Again lets see how Rochas will perform.

Onlytruth:

For APGA to take over SE and beyond, we need the strong involvement of Ohanaeze and Aka Ikenga. I will explain.

Enugu state (historically) has tended towards national parties than Igbo sponsored parties, and we need to change that fast. When Jim Nwobodo was the governor of old Anambra state, NPP (Zik's party) was strongest in current Anambra state and Old Imo state than in northern Anambra (Enugu and Ebonyi) where CC Onoh of NPN held sway.
Also, I cannot recall of any Igbo nationalist from Enugu state. No pun intended. They always played national politics even if it would cost Ndigbo. Look at Ekweremadu now and you would understand.

Methinks that Enugu brothers need to demonstrate their loyalty to Igbo agenda, 'cos they haven't done that enough.

Enugu is the most important Eastern town, and we cannot leave it to those who are not trusting of their fellow Easterners.

Enugu must come home. NOW. 

As for Ebonyi and Abia, these would come to APGA if Okorocha performs well in Imo.
It is Enugu that I worry about. 

So, Ohanaeze needs to drag Enugu home.

Ericology:

I ve followed your comments here for a while and they always made sense but theres something u tend to forget,  Igbos have always been republican and never at any time engaged in politics of cult worshipping, In developed and strong democratic countries of Europe and North America this kind of politicking by the Igbos wld have been the best but for the fact that we live in an ethnocentric country call Nigeria, everybody wants to relate to ethnic based political parties which unfortunately is never healthy for democracy,
             Under normal circumstances we shld nt be running after a particular party with no ideology out of ethnic gains,  Theres nothing wrong in having 4 or 5 parties control the  a single state as its done in Europe  as long as their main aim is to provide good governance for the people but we are usually following the [my people] party , I dont care if PDP controls Enugu, APGA controls Imo and Abia. ACN controls Amanbra while Labout party controls Ebonyi,  This ethnocentric politics is getting on my nerves and at last a very republican IGBOS are being dragged into the mess in order to catch up with their other ethnocentric brothers,  hmmmm

aribisala0:

a frequently repeated mantra which is curious at best. like the simplistic fallacy that the igbos were not easy to govern because they never had kings. i suggest if people are going to make sweeping statements they should research properly. there is no evidence except in lazy armchair intellectuals' minds that igbos are more republican than any other people in southern nigeria except for maybe the bini.
regarding politics of cult worship whatever that could mean; our political history is quite short for any data to be interpreted with certainty but we know that all major ethnic groups tended to vote massively along ethnic lines overwhelmingly in 1960 and 1979

i.e. igbos always voted for zik.

all this pontification and self-righteousness should be saved for those who were born in the 80s

Ericology:

I know it will be an exercise in futility to educate u on the afore mentioned points about Ndigbo,  FYI winning a contest is not same as sweeping the polls,[/[b]b]  Zik never swept polls in Igboland like [/b]some parties did in other regions,  Am sure u know dat it took Late Sam Mbakwe's sagacity to win in 1979 and 1983 against the NPN,  they were nt landslide victories,  NPN pushed NPP out in Anambra in 1983,  Remember the NPP was ZIKS party that u claimed Igbos always voted for, Most state assemblies were evenly split between NPP and NPN and not the sweeping victories we witnessed in other areas,  I am sure u wont understand but oh well