2015: THE STRIDES OF APGA

 

The All Progressives Grand Alliance, no doubt is one of the political parties that are entering the 2015 electoral duel from a position of strength. From the fringes and the margins the All Progressives Grand Alliance has manoeuvred itself into a position of political strength. APGA started its political skirmishes on the outskirts of the Nigerian politics but has through dogged efforts of its robust leadership over the years, established itself as one of the tripods of the Nigerian politics. In 2003, APGA was all but dead. It was schemed out of political power by the bullying People’s Democratic Party in almost all areas it was winning save Anambra. At the end of a three year epic legal battle, APGA wrested Anambra State from the iron jaws of the PDP. By the calculations of the powers that be, APGA was not intended to exercise power but to look over power for a few months pending the emergence of Mr Obasanjo’s favoured servant. PDP suzerainty over Anambra seemed almost like a fait accompli. The next gubernatorial election was just months away; the House of Assembly was peopled by the PDP; an almost lawless president declared the election a do-or-die affair. The political atmosphere was turbo charged. But APGA weathered it all. Impeachment did come and go but APGA remained on the throne.  The APGA government went ahead to complete its rightful four year tenure, broke the jinx and for the first time in the history of the old and new Anambra State did indeed win a re-election. The usual political noisemakers were there. Mischief makers and name droppers worked overtime. Yet, APGA floored them all. The challengers were giants. Yet APGA carried the day.

Enter 2013; it was the year of gubernatorial election in Anambra State. The hawks gathered and the vultures hovered above. There was a manifest plan to collapse APGA into the PDP. The resistance to the plan by the substantive national chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh led to the emergence of a factional national chairman via a midnight voodoo convention. The cloud thickened for APGA. The APGA elected governor of Imo State migrated to the APC while the then incumbent governor of Anambra State was already halfway into the PDP; he merely fell short of formerly collapsing APGA into the PDP. The stout resistance from Ohamadike Victor Umeh culminated in paradigmatic victory at the Enugu division of the court of appeal. The hasty reconciliation and the belated emergence of a hitherto relatively unknown candidate appeared to competitors to portend to the immediate demise of APGA. But they were wrong. The shock was seismic and the victory was thunderous. Chief Willie Obiano thrashed the PDP as represented by Comrade Tony Nwoye thoroughly. Ngige who is a household name was shocked to the marrows as the hitherto “unknown” Obiano thrashed him roundly. That is the power of APGA. It is not about the person but about the party. APGA is a spiritual movement. It is embedded in the psyche of every Igboman. APGA is the only political party that strikes the emotive chord in the heart of the average Igboman. The leadership of the party has successfully sold the party to the grassroots. Hence, the name, ‘APGA’ wins election any day anytime. No political party can win the presidential election today without reckoning with APGA. The exit of the former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi ushered in a new lease of life to APGA. Mr Obi as a governor had in accordance to an alleged agreement with the PDP, kept the party down. In all his over seven and half years in power, Mr Obi never campaigned for any APGA candidate outside Anambra. In fact, he neither supported nor aided any APGA candidate within Anambra save the late Prof Dora Akunyili who failed precisely because of Obi’s association with her campaign. There was neither any local government election nor any empowerment or oiling of the party structure. Mr Obi spent over six and a half years fighting to remove his national chairman. Simply put, he was decaying the party from within. Pundits where therefore unruffled when he joined PDP, his natural habitat after the expiration of his tenure. Contrary to his expectation however, he received the shock of his life when no single member of APGA followed him into PDP. Today, Mr Obi is so unpopular that he cannot win an election even in his own street. The performance of Chief Willie Obiano within a very short period of time threw the scales off the eyes of Ndi Anambra. Today, people are wondering what Mr Peter Obi did in the whole eight years he was in power.

Until recently, insecurity drove away everybody who was somebody from Anambra State. The spate of kidnappings were so rife that people conducted traditional wedding ceremonies and funeral rites in Lagos. There was no evening life talk less of night life. The whole social atmosphere was grim. Within three months, Obiano made Anambra the safest state in the Federation. Nightlife has returned in all parts of Anambra State in full force. People went about their business with sure sense of security. Investments are pouring into Anambra State in geometric progression. The major cities of Anambra State are experiencing large influx of people as people are pouring into the state from Lagos and the north. The notorious Upper Iweka that used to be the den of robbers has received the Oshodi treatment. Comprehensive beautification has overtaken Upper Iweka. There are streets lights shining every night, flowered gardens around it; and above all, there is round the clock security around it. Today travellers alight at Upper Iweka at any time of the night or day and go about their business without any iota of fear. The state capital that remained a village since the creation of the state is undergoing massive transformation. Obiano is concurrently constructing three bridges at different locations in the capital. There are massive road constructions in the rural and urban areas. In agriculture and commerce, the governor is doing wonders. The mantra in Anambra State today is the catchy clause, “Willie is Working”. In less than six months, Chief Willie Obiano has virtually obliterated the consciousness of Peter Obi from the memory of Anambra masses. People seldom remember that Obi was there a short while ago. Even after almost eight years in power, Peter Obi could not match the clout and popularity of Ngige. But just within six months, Obiano has retired Ngige politically and consigned Peter Obi to the place of delete in the memory of Ndi Anambra. APGA stands tall in Anambra shining in its full yellow and green glory, looking brightly at the beautiful future ahead. The leadership of APGA piloted by Chief Victor Umeh has stood out. There are said to be Seven Wonders of the World but how Chief Victor Umeh held APGA together steering it amid heavy political tempest and piloting it to glory remains the eighth wonder of the world. His leadership has continued to attract high political worth individuals to the party.

One of them is the gadfly, Chuka Obele-chuka, a radical lawyer and good governance crusader who brought the notorious administration of Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju to a standstill. Obele-chuka was among the thousands of people who joined the party as Peter Obi left the party. Chukka who had remained apolitical all these years said he joined APGA because it parades men of integrity and represents the best of governance our people can ever dream of. He is said to be poised to lead Chief Victor Umeh’s campaign for the senatorial seat of the Anambra Central Zone. His entrance into the party has continued to send jitters to the nerves of the opposition. His decision to direct Chief Umeh’s campaign is already scattering the equations of the contenders for the senatorial seat. Today, all things being equal the election of Umeh into the senate seems a done deal. The favoured PDP aspirant is an obvious feather weight while the incumbent, Senator Chris Ngige has lost steam. Ngige remains a man whose time has passed. It will be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than APC to win a major election anywhere in the Southeast, let alone in Anambra State where the party is associated with the worst. Politics as they say is a matter of perception, and the perception of the APC in Anambra State is quite unpalatable. The last remnant of APC in Anambra State entered APGA not long ago; a requiem for APC. The PDP in Anambra remained a Fuji House of Commotion. The internal contradictions in the party remain perennially unsurmountable. The Abuja favoured aspirant remains a woman who could not get ten thousand votes in a state-wide election. She is at the National Assembly today courtesy of APGA. Challenging the engine room of APGA in Anambra State is audacity taken too far. Sure Abuja abracadabra might work at her party’s primaries but the era of ‘Abuja’ made elections in Anambra is long gone. She has to face the challenges before her: confronting the national chairman of the party that put her at the National Assembly, confronting a popular and performing governor whom she attempted to topple through the courts not long ago; a governor with personal axe to grind, a governor who is not contesting any election anytime soon, seething with political hurts inflicted by her? How is she going to surmount these? Your guess is as good as mine.

Oliver Okonkwo, wrote in from Awka.