[size=14pt]Obi, Umeh, APGA and South East[/size]

By:
Amanze Ubochi

What is brewing in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) currently is not in anyway unexpected. Suffice it, therefore, to say that crisis is part and parcel of healthy politics in so far as the major actors in the scene have the competences to turn the so-called crisis into gains. And how can they do that? First, they must ask themselves pertinent questions about where they are coming from, where they are at present and where they are headed.

Second, they must be able to listen to the voices of those they are leading, including those who are not members of their party as the case may be. We shall return to these shortly.

I have taken time to study the recent development involving Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, the National Chairman of the APGA, Chief Victor Umeh and others who are major stakeholders in the party and I have every reason to conclude that the so-called crisis within the APGA is being orchestrated by unseen hands to alter the template with which Obi utilised to make a difference in the governance of Anambra State for about eight years now.

No doubt, APGA’s journey over the years has been tortuous. Or if you like, the journey has not been without issues. For example, even during the tenure of the pioneer Chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, there were issues that tended to tear the party apart, but reason prevailed and made it possible for the party to be retrieved from the hands of those who were out to drive the death nail on the head of APGA. Incidentally, all these were happening while the spiritual leader of APGA, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was still alive and active in the party.


Is it, therefore, a surprise, that what we are witnessing today in APGA is taking place no sooner Ojukwu died and was buried than the actors resumed their duty? Back to the posers I raised earlier regarding APGA leaders asking themselves some pertinent questions as to where they are coming from, where they are at present and where they are going, I have every reason to believe that they have not been able to do so since the demise of Ojukwu. Perhaps, all the bottled up grievances which some of the APGA leaders are harbouring now would have been taken care of had they returned to the drawing board to review the fate of the party after Ojukwu.

To me, after Ojukwu’s death, I did not expect those who know the role he played in the party while he lived to go to bed. And if you ask me, that is allowed in politics and what that means, by extension, is that those who want APGA dead know when to strike. And have they not? And that also brings us to the second poser of whether the APGA leaders are actually listening to those they are leading on the one hand, and on the other, what the opposition is saying about the party.

One may want to argue that the party met recently in Enugu, but was the parley called before insinuations of “face-off” between Obi and Umeh or after it has gained momentum? The answer is that, the meeting held in Enugu on May 26 was simply an attempt by some persons to further undermine the overall interest of the party.

Why do I say so? Such a very important meeting should have been at the instance of the APGA National Working Committee (NWC), in which case, the NWC would have been mandated to sensitise members on the need for such an assembly. That the NWC was sidelined before such a very important meeting was summoned means someone somewhere is mid-wifing mischief and I think anybody who means well for the party should point that out for condemnation.

Yes, Obi was at the meeting as well as Ojukwu’s wife, Bianca and others like Dr. Tim Menakaya, Chief Patrick Onuoha, can they in all honesty say the Enugu meeting was called in line with the constitution of APGA?

If they go ahead with the implementation of the resolution they reached at that meeting, will it not compound the already precarious situation in the party? And how can one explain the comment recently attributed to the leader of Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB),Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, suggesting that he would strip Umeh naked in public for making “uncomplimentary” comments on Ojukwu which only Uwazuruike heard?

The MASSOB leader had said: “We warn Chief Victor Umeh to desist from dragging the name of Ojukwu in the mud. In as much as we are not interested in Nigeria, we will not fold our hands and allow anybody to degrade Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s family.

“Chief Umeh has no right whatsoever to stop or persuade people not to attend a meeting in Ojukwu’s house. Ojukwu is highly revered in Igboland, his image and personality should not be dragged into selfish and rancorous politics.

“The APGA National Chairman should stop using Alhaji Sani Shinkafi to insult Ojukwu’s family or we shall strip him naked and ostracise him for dragging Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s family name in the mud.”


One should also recall that on the day the meeting was held in Ojukwu’s house Bianca did threaten to “render Umeh a general without troops” if the National Chair fails to accede to certain conditions. And you ask yourself the usefulness of comments like these at a meeting where the essence is to chart a way forward in the interest of all.


Would anyone, therefore, be surprised that Shinkafi described Uwazuruike’s comment as irresponsible and least expected of one aspiring to leadership position. Shinkafi had said: “The statement credited to Uwazuruike is unfortunate. I have never wanted to join words with Ralph Uwazuruike, but for clarification sake, Uwazuruike is not a card-carrying member of APGA, so he cannot question my authority as the National Secretary of APGA, either indirectly or directly.

“If Ralph Uwazuruike wants to do that, let him go to his village in Onu-Imo and pick the APGA registration card and be registered as a bona-fide member of the party before he starts challenging my authority as the National Secretary of the party. I have never for one day insulted or attacked the family of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu. I am part and parcel of that family for almost a decade now.”

I want to make one point very clear to Uwazuruike and his cohorts: “APGA is not an Igbo party neither is it a regional party but a National party. APGA is not a family party, it is our party. I can challenge anybody in Igboland that the party is a national party.

“By the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it is clearly stated that before a political party is registered it must have its National headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory, it must have a national spread and it’s officers must also reflect the National character. So if you feel that somebody from the north is a nobody, you are making a mistake, and if you are in the South East to claim APGA you are ignorant.”

The points which Shinkafi has made are too germane to be ignored and that is why Obi and Umeh should, once more, rise to the challenge of rescuing APGA from the hands of killjoys who want to see the party dead.

In fact, before contemplating another major meeting involving all stakeholders in APGA that is deemed constitutional, Obi, the NWC led by Umeh and the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, should meet first and look at what is happening in the party now for the way forward.


If Obi is deemed a superstar in terms of his performance in Anambra as governor, the same credit should also go to Umeh and his NWC. The same thing is also applicable to Okorocha’s Imo. Therefore, this is not the time to recall who did what or not. The issue now should be how to tell those who have been striving to kill APGA that they have met another brick wall.

When our people learn that APGA is really indispensable in Igboland as a vehicle for our empowerment in Nigeria, the rest will take shape.
Thank God for opinions like this.
All I know is that APGA remains very much alive, and I'm very confident that SANITY will prevail at last.
We have no choice!

The party should try hard and make itself more attractive to the other Southeastern states. Hopefully with people like Rochas in its ranks it won't have much difficulty doing so.

I stand in the words of sullivan chime on Apga for now. Atlease until the nuissance peter obi is no more powerful in the party

Mr. Globe:
I stand in the words of sullivan chime on Apga for now. Atlease until the nuissance peter obi is no more powerful in the party

Your hatered fro peter obi is something one cannot understand,even you have seen El rufai more sane than Obi,but i tell u broda the joke is on you because obi responded to El rufai crticist and i posted it here for you to read and understand what obi is doing in Anambra state you only view it and shun to comend him because the hatered u have for him had already eaten u up.It a big shame for you to hate obi out of your slfish reason ,abi u are from andy/chris uba family ni?

I don't think APGA will go farther than than they have currently because it seems that they don't have plans to at least conquer the entire SE. I think it's because of the fear by some people in APGA that the control of the party will be wrestled away from them. We Igbo youths need to start a political movement that will turn to a prty in the future. If you're relying on those old men that have failed us since after the civil war, then you'll grow gray hairs waiting for them to do the needful.