We need to rebuild  APGA – Okorie

You are the founder and father of APGA. Looking at the state of the party now, how do you feel? Are you sad or happy?

As a matter of fact, my heart bleeds. My heart bleeds for APGA, my heart bleeds for Ndigbo. As at 1995, I had a clear vision about where my people are supposed to be in the political equation of Nigeria. And I saw that the only rallying point in terms of political leadership the Igbo ever had; that was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was already weak, old and could no longer provide the leadership he had provided over the years. So, in 1996, I made the first attempt to found a political party, which our people could regard as their own. Significantly, in that 1996, Zik passed away. I failed in that attempt. In 1998, I made the second attempt and failed again. Between 2001-2002, I made the third attempt and succeeded. I made all these attempts because I did not see any person stepping into Zik’s shoes as an individual. So, I felt that if we could no longer have a rallying point, all we needed to do was to have a rallying platform. And that was the purpose of trying to

establish a political party. And it turned out to be the first political party in the history of this country that was ever founded by an Igbo man. I took that as a very serious challenge and the vision was very clear – to have a platform for negotiation with the rest of Nigerians, for reintegration, for reconciliation; for so many things.

So, we moved on. In 2003, we made a phenomenal entry into the political arena of the country. Without any moneybag, without power of incumbency, but by mere strong message, we were able to perform so well that everybody knew that we won all the elections in the South East, but for the massive rigging of that time. Even Anambra State would have not recovered, but this was not the case because the candidate then had a lot of personal resources to pursue his case, which other people did not have. But even though we lost the governorship in those places, we had three members of the House of Representatives. We were then satisfied and planned that, by 2007, we would have consolidated on the gains of 2003 and that the minimum we would achieve was to take the entire South East and begin to advance into other parts of the country.

But behold after the year we made that success, I was barely two years as the substantive chairman of APGA; that was in 2004, the devil struck. And that is the battle we have fought till today. We are looking at seven years of leadership tussle. I will conclude the answer to this question to say that Peter Obi and Victor Umeh are true disciples of political Lucifer. They are political vampires, who have come to suck life out of APGA. In 2007, under their control, which they hijacked, more or less, APGA recorded zero election in the entire results. When I say zero, I’m not saying zero in Anambra, zero in the whole of the federation; not winning any seat. This was a party which did so well in 2003; four years after, when it should be growing fell to zero. So, if there was a law, as we have now that any party, which did not win a seat in the House of Assembly will be de-registered, APGA would have gone. But luckily, that law wasn’t there. And now, in

2011, having boxed the great Ikemba to a corner, they now did to Igbo people the worst sabotage they have never experienced since God created them on mother earth. In the 30-month fratricidal war our people fought for liberation, nobody called saboteurs, could be credited with the failure of that war. Yes, the saboteurs did damages here and there, but none of them or a group did so much damage as to account for our defeat in that war. But these two men are directly and personally responsible for the Igbo political dilemma in Nigeria today. So, that is why I say they are the worst thing that would happen to Ndigbo and history will record them as such. My heart bleeds, but I have the confidence that we shall recover.

Do you see them as fifth columnists working for some forces against Ndigbo or were they acting for and on behalf of themselves?

First of all, I describe them as agents of political Lucifer and nothing good comes from the Devil. And like the agents they are, they acted for their master and acted for themselves. Nothing altruistic can be traced to them. They are richer than they were when they entered APGA. But anything they touch dies. With their touch, APGA recorded zero in 2007. With their touch now, Governor Peter Obi has done worse than any governor in the 36 states of Nigeria in this election. I can tell you that it was their touch that made Chief Martin Agbaso to lose in Imo in 2007. I pitied Chief Rochas Okorocha when I saw Umeh near his campaign. I said to myself, this young man; a philanthropist, a man of God, because any man who can remember the poor is a man of God; but there is a negative aura surrounding him and I can tell you from the spiritual point of view that Okorocha’s major dilemma is Umeh’s involvement. We are having this interview before the supplementary election. But if there is any problem that comes out of that election of 6th of May, against Okorocha, it is not because he is not loved by his people, but because he has been contaminated by these agents of political devil. So, they didn’t just act for themselves, they were acting for a superior negative influence that caused them to destroy the political future of the entire Igbo people. What I’m saying is what the entire Igbo people appreciate. There was no ACN when APGA emerged. There was no Labour Party when APGA emerged. But today, these parties are all ahead of us. They are all ahead of us. But I want to repeat, we are going to recover the soul of the party, we are rebuilding the party and 2015 will be our date with destiny.

But the dismal picture you are painting of APGA seems not shared by the people you are talking about. For instance, Umeh claims the party has done more than its record since coming into being, having secured more National Assembly and House of Assembly seats across the South East. What do you say to this?

You see, I was holding myself back from actually interrupting you and an outburst of laughter. It is only a shameless person that can make such a claim. I have told you that Governor Peter Obi posted the worst record out of the 36 state governors in the country. How can anyone be proud of that? An incumbent governor recording zero result in the Senatorial seat in his state, having only three House of Reps members out of 11, having only 13 members of the state Assembly out of 32; an incumbent. But when we produced Obi, we didn’t have power of incumbency, we didn’t have moneybags. If Umeh is referring to the past, what past is he referring to? Is it in 2007 when he and Obi were in control or is he referring to 2003 when we just started from nowhere, when APGA had no name recognition, when he, himself was not there and Obi had just sauntered into APGA from PDP? Why can’t he compare APGA with other parties like the ACN, which has swept the entire South West, except Ondo? I can’t understand it. But if he thinks that anybody is impressed by that kind of comment, then, let us see. But, people are reacting. Umeh will find it difficult to live with what he did, because the question will be how much was he paid to destroy APGA. How much is in his pocket for the destruction of APGA? First of all, it is surprising that no journalist, and I don’t mean it as an indictment, but perhaps as a challenge, has ever demanded from Umeh evidence of his chairmanship of APGA; because no court, including the Supreme Court, which we have just come out from and which copy of judgement I have just given you to read at your own time, has pronounced him as the chairman. INEC has sworn to an affidavit that it never attended any convention where Umeh was made a chairman. Everything has been fraud, fraud and more fraud. For 2010 election, INEC knew Umeh was no chairman and went and invited Ikemba to sign Obi’s nomination form. Obi is suffering it in court today. It is a live issue. The matter is at the Federal High Court, because of Obi’s irregular nomination. For 2011, Umeh went into conspiracy with INEC. And of course, I did say it at that time; I addressed a press conference, and made my stand known; INEC wrote a letter and said that the court had established Umeh as the chairman of APGA, when, as I’m talking to you the situation remains that no court has done so. And what did Umeh do? He took that letter and advertised it, including in your own paper, side by side with the nomination form of APGA. The purpose was very clear – to divert every candidate wanting to run on the platform of APGA to buy nomination forms from them and denying our own APGA of any fund. And you wouldn’t blame candidates. If a prospective candidate saw that INEC had given recognition to a faction, why would it come to us to buy form? So, they cornered over N500million. APGA charged the highest nomination fee for any party. For instance, to run for Local Government chairmanship that never held, N1million, for councillorship that never held, they collected N100,000; House of Assembly N1million, House of Reps N2.5million, Senate, N3.5million and for President, which they knew they had no plan of running, they placed the tag at N20.5million; two times the amount charged by the ruling party. And the purpose was very clear – to discourage anybody that wanted to run for the presidency on APGA platform, because they had sold the soul of the party at that time. That was why a party in crisis would place N20 million on its presidential candidate. And thereafter, they would turn around and say the reason why we didn’t have a presidential candidate is because nobody came around to by the form. Who will buy such a form? It is this conspiracy that has been going on and that is why APGA is where it is. Let me tell you, all of these candidates who have even won positions have serious problems. The problem is that of the authentic APGA accepting their candidature or rejecting them, because Umeh is not legally authorised to nominate anybody. But the political party can decide to accept and nobody can deny the party what it has accepted. But if it is not accepted, nobody can impose on the party what it has not accepted. The law is very clear on that. And I can tell you that an order of mandamus compelling INEC to respect a duly convened national convention that elected the authentic leadership of the party is coming. It is on its way. The motion on notice will be moved on the 16th of May at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

I have heard some people ask why have you not given up on this issue; that even if you are right the forces against you are not the ones you can easily surmount, or even surmount at all. Why are you not giving up and move on, after all, life doesn’t depend on APGA?

It is a very simple answer. I told you at the beginning of this interview about the vision that prompted the formation of APGA. And we begged God to grant us APGA, because at that time, the conditions for registering a political party were as difficult as the camel passing through the eye of the needle and God granted us that request. APGA was the only party out of the 63 in the country today that went for an inter-denominational service to dedicate a party to God. I’m not aware that any other party did this. So, we knew there would be trials, we knew that our faith would be put to test, we knew that our resilience, our sincerity of purpose, our perseverance, will all be subjected to severe test. And so, when these agents of Lucifer came, we knew that the time to test all those qualities had come. So, we decided that surrendering will be like faithless people, who asked God for something and when he gave it to them, they were not able to protect it.

And if God wants us to hands off, it will become obvious. So, we are not deterred or discouraged by the machinations of men and the use of money, because the same God gave us victory on the 23rd of November 2010, for which we are asking the order of mandamus for it to be obeyed. So, if God didn’t want us to recover the soul of APGA and reposition the party and our people, He wouldn’t have given us that opening, in spite of the war chest of these people. But he blinded them from coming there to do their normal damage and we went away. Is it not surprising that 160 days after that victory there has been no appeal? So, having lost that opportunity to appeal, we are coasting home for a mandamus order for a valid order of court to be obeyed. Is it not an opening for us to recover the party? Once we recover the party, we will reposition it. In fact the only reason why APGA is not dead is because I’m still alive and defending it. When I read through the internet, the newspapers and text messages of people looking up to me to the Igbo political identity, which God has used me to establish through APGA, I know I have a date with destiny. I have a mission from God and once that is established, I will know I have something to be remembered for. It is not everybody that will have large estates. Umeh is looking at estates, fat bank accounts, I’m looking at other things. I’m looking at the place of my people in Nigeria. So, that is why it will be a sin against humanity and against God to surrender to the devil. No child of God should give up to the devil for as long as God has given him life.

But they also accuse you of being the one who wanted to destroy APGA, by trying to sell its mandate to the former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige. How do you respond? 

You see, I have defended this so many times and I will never be tired of defending it. For those whose memories are alive and functional, they will remember that what I was accused of was embezzling N50million belonging to APGA and not Ngige. That was the accusation. And I said APGA never had up to N50million not to talk about embezzling it. Umeh was our treasurer. He signed our accounts audited by INEC-appointed external auditors and the total income as at that date was N43million, which was where we got the money to campaign at all levels and maintain opposition to the point of receiving award from the NUJ, paying salaries and all. So, how could I have embezzled what was not existing? Then, by 12th of March 2005, crisis had started by December, 2004, I had just come out of detention of the EFCC, where I spent 48 hours, again because of the malicious allegations of these people that I embezzled N50million and EFCC found out that there was no such money, and I was released, I was persuaded by very prominent Igbo people, many of them in PDP, to please go and give Ngige our membership card to have a place to fall back on, should he be expelled from the PDP, because the expulsion was imminent. I didn’t know, but those in the PDP knew. And having just come out of EFCC detention for what I never did, and as at that time, I had never crossed the counter of a police station; as a business man, I had never had any disagreement with anybody on business or monetary matters; so you could imagine how I hurt. I was, having given all in giving my people an identity, I was now being accused of embezzling something far less than what I put in that effort. So, I took the advice to visit Ngige, with the executive of the party from the South East. And part of what persuaded me was that they told me that AD, led by then Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu and Bisi Akande, chairman of the party was already heading to Awka to go and beg Ngige to join the party. And they said that this was what they did to Mbadinuju and that I should go and offer Ngige a place in APGA. With that annoyance that Obi and Umeh plotted my being detained, I left with some executive members and went to Ngige, not in the cover of the night, but in broad daylight, with the state Assembly members present and other prominent Igbo people including former governor of the state, Chukwuemeka Ezeife. All I did was to offer Ngige our party constitution and our membership card. All I said was should you be expelled by the PDP, come to our party. What I did was no different from what Okwy Nwodo did when he went to invite T.A. Orji from APGA to join PDP. There are so many instances of party leaders going to win other powerful party members to join their party. Yes, at that time the tribunal matter was going on, but APGA was not a party. And come to think of that, our own calculation was that if for any reason Ngige won that matter, which would have been the case if he was not quarrelling with the Presidency at that time, then it will be an APGA victory, if Peter Obi won, it would still be an APGA victory. So, head we win, tail we win. My calculation could have been wrong, it could have been faulted, but that was it. It was not like selling out because there was nothing to sell. By that time Obi had closed his case, even if APGA was a party to the suit. By March 2005 was one year after Obi had closed his case and Ngige was on to about witness 200, because, as you know, he called so many witnesses. So, there was nothing I could have done in March 2005 that would have added or subtracted from the matter at the tribunal.

But because the allegation of embezzling N50million could not stick, the thing was now turned to selling out to Ngige. But even at that, let us look at it. Obi, wore PDP uniform, went to Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium and declared support for President Goodluck Jonathan, wearing the same thing with PDP governors. Which one was the worst act of anti-party activity? Obi adopted Jonathan, where was it discussed? What were the terms of engagement? What was APGA supposed to benefit from it? What was Anambra supposed to get from it? By the way, Anambra is not APGA, APGA is a national party. Obi and Umeh had demonstrated the worst form of anti-party activities even before this time. In their so-called NEC meeting in 2011, Obi was at the meeting canvassing support for Jonathan on APGA platform even before the so-called adoption. I wish they had meant well for APGA. I wish they had meant well for APGA. If they had been doing well, people will not be everywhere calling Chekwas to come and rescue the party. They will be hailing them. But let them walk the streets now and see how people spit at them for what they have done to Ndigbo and what they have done to APGA. I did not sell out to Ngige, I tried to woo Ngige into APGA and I’m still wooing him, because I believe his natural habitat is APGA, even now that he is Senator-elect. I’m still wooing Ngige because there is no way you can compare him with Obi.

So, what is the way forward?   

At the initial stage, some people opposed my move to register APGA, because they believed it was better to operate from the centre. But I had told them that in the absence of a national conference, Nigeria can only go regional and return from there to negotiate from regional platforms in order to form a nation. The only alternative was a national conference and since national conference was not coming, we needed to come together through a political platform. Today, even those who opposed me, are now the strongest advocates of that vision. So, we need to rebuild APGA, to face this reality, which is still prevalent. And it is easier now to rebuild because many have become converts. 


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