2019: APGA faces  uncertain future

By OBINNA EZUGWU

Wherever he may be today, former Biafra warlord, the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu would be turning in indignation. Reason! His main legacy, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) is fast heading towards an inglorious end. With its worst showing in any election since inception in 2002, it is hardly in doubt that, APGA, the political party which once carried the embodiment of Igbo political aspirations, and was personified by Chief Ojukwu, a man regarded by many Igbo, as their eternal leader, is in its last days.

“They killed APGA from when they conceived APGA that “Nkea bu nkeanyi,” (this is our own). APGA’s slogan used to be “Onye aghala nwanne ya” (Let’s be our brother’s keeper),” says Chief Ziggy Azike, lawyer and chieftain of the party. “But they changed it to Nkea bu nkeanyi. Many people were not included in the “Anyi”. We didn’t understand that it meant that “Nkea bu nke ha” (this is their own).”

“The Nkeanyi that Obiano, Umeh and Oye conceived was just for it to be their own, the three of them. From onye aghala nwanne ya, which is what Igbo people say, to nkea bu nkeanyi, shows the selfishness of the trio. You can no longer tell an Igbo that APGA is his party; he will just ask you, what are you talking about. They destroyed the essence of APGA. There is no more essence in APGA.”

Chief Azike was one of those who aspired to Imo governorship on the APGA platform, but like many others, was undone by the alleged manipulation of the entire primary election of the party, which according to many tickets were only given to the highest bidder. In Imo, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, originally of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was announced governorship candidate after a botched primary. The crisis emanated there-from, and from similar circumstances in Anambra, is proving to be the last straw that would finally break the proverbial camel’s back.

In the presidential and national assembly elections held on February 23, APGA lost all senate seats in Anambra, its’ very stronghold and failed to win any seats in Imo and Abia states for the first time. Chief Victor Umeh, the only senator within its ranks, lost to Mrs. Uche Ekwunife of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Although the party won three of eleven house of reps seat in Anambra, and surprisingly, another three out of seven in Benue where it’s presidential candidate, John Gbor, comes from, it fared badly overall in Anambra and other states of the South East. Indeed, the newly formed Young Democratic Party (YDP) on whose platform, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, ran for president, matched APGA, winning one of three available senate seats in Anambra. And that, for observers, is a sign of things to come for a party they say has since lost its’ essence.

“APGA lost its essence the moment the party was hijacked some years ago by people who didn’t share in the vision for which it was founded. It is as a result of that derailment that took place about 15 years ago, in 2004. APGA was founded in 2002 and by December 2004, they had already launched an attack against the founder, myself,” notes Chief Chekwas Okorie, APGA’s original founder.

“And we remained in court for eight years. As a result, the party never grew beyond Anambra State. Any in-road it made into any state, it quickly returned back to Anambra State. It entered Imo, but couldn’t stay there and so on and so forth. So, it was a gradual process that has almost resulted in outright decimation of the party. It’s not a damage that was done just in one day.

“Those who hijacked the party using state resources and all the contacts they had with the federal government at the time. Don’t forget that after I produced Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu as presidential candidate, APGA never produced any other presidential candidate of Igbo extraction from that time till now. And one of the reasons for founding it was to give the Igbo man an opportunity to be involved in the contest for the highest office in the land.”

When Chief Okorie nursed the idea of APGA in 1991, he sought a political platform that would serve as a voice to Ndigbo. And when it eventually came into fruition in 2003 ahead of the 2003 general elections, it was a response to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the South West and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) led then in the North.

It had become immediately clear after the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former vice president, was denied the presidential ticket of the emergent PDP in 1998 in favour of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who eventually became president in 1999, that it was going to be difficult for an Igbo man in post war Nigeria, to be given the platform of a major pan Nigeria political party to aspire to the highest office in the land.

This was a point further demonstrated in the lead up to the 2003 presidential election. At the time, it was widely believed, among the Igbo, that after Obasanjo had done four years in office, he would hand over to an Igbo. It was for this reason that many political heavyweights in Igbo land, including former Anambra governor, Jim Nwobodo, General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) and, of course, Dr. Ekwueme, campaigned vigorously for the then ruling party’s presidential ticket. Of all however, Ekwueme was easily the front-runner; and so most Igbo reasoned that 2003 was to be his year.

But inevitably, the late former vice president’s ambition – indeed, the collective aspirations of the Igbo – was once again thwarted by the second term seeking Obasanjo in active connivance, it was alleged, with the class of 1966 military generals. One of which, it was said, threatened to call in the military should Ekwueme who at the time, was believed to have entered into an agreement with then vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to do four years as president and hand over to him, if given the PDP ticket.

Atiku wielded tremendous influence among many state governors at the time and the said agreement with Ekwueme was looking a real possibility. Ultimately, however, it came to nothing. And it would be the last time an Igbo would credibly challenge for power.

But having foreseen that the possibility of an Igbo presidential candidate in national party did not exist, and that if the Igbo were to contend for power, they needed an Igbo centric platform, Chief Okorie set out to found what is today known as APGA.

“The strong desire to found a national political party based on Igbo initiative motivated me to rally a few associates on the platform of Igboezue Cultural Association which I founded in 1991 with the Motto of Onye aghala awanne ya, to embark on the mission of forming a political party,” Okorie recalls.

“In 1996 we submitted the application to register the Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC) to the Electoral Commission. PDC was not registered. In 1998 we resubmitted the application to register PDC, we failed the second time.

“Not deterred by these failures we approached the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the third time to register the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA). Let me recall that in all three applications we used the Motto: “Onye Aghala Nwanne Ya” Be Your Brothers’ Keeper and the Logo was the Cock, for reasons that will be found in my Book that is in the making.”

UPGA was to transmute to APGA in 2003 with the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu as its founding figure. Still battling the effect of devastating civil war that ended only decades earlier, the Igbo, more than any  other group in the country, needed a new political identity, a renaissance of sorts. There was a void in the Igbo political consciousness which the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), despite being the dominant political party in the South East, could not fill.

Chief Okorie, perhaps, knowing what he wanted to achieve with an Igbo centric political party, and knowing that the only person who could help him achieve that was Ojukwu, encouraged him to assume the party’s leadership and right from inception, APGA wore Ojukwu’s identity. And once it did, it didn’t need any campaigns to win the support of the Igbo.

Ojukwu ran for president in the 2003 general election on the APGA platform. And despite the massive rigging of the polls in the South East by PDP and its incumbent president, Obasanjo, he still managed to come third behind Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, then of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

“By the time Ojukwu was candidate, he became the first person after Zik to attain that status because Ekwueme, Nzeribe, Iwuanyanwu, and so on that were in PDP, never had the opportunity of becoming standard flag bearers for the party,” Okorie says.

 “They only contested in primaries and were schemed out in very disgraceful manner. So, I knew that if we didn’t have a party we could call our own, which we can influence it’s decisions and policies, the Igbo man may never contest elections.”

APGA with Ojukwu as its undisputed leader was making gradual inroad in the South East. Although many political personalities in the South East were members of the PDP at the time, they had soft spot for the party, and contributed in their own capacities to its sustainability.

In that 2003 election, APGA governorship candidate in Anambra, Mr. Peter Obi won the election. In Enugu, Ugo Agballa, the party’s governorship candidate shook the political landscape. He was only stopped by the brute force of then governor of the state, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani.  In Anambra, Obi was however, initially denied by the rigging machinery of the PDP which ensured that Dr. Chris Ngige became governor. Fortunately, Obi, helped by the disagreement between Ngige and his then godfather, Chris Uba, was able to reclaim his mandate through the court in 2006.

With a governor and the party’s leader in Anambra, the state was to provide an effective foothold for it to expand to other South East States. And it hadn’t really done a bad job of it, despite what Okorie had noted was a relentless attempt by Obasanjo to kill APGA for fear of Ojukwu using it to climb into political prominence.

“The Obasanjo presidency regarded APGA as a National Security risk, from the very moment Ojukwu emerged as the presidential candidate of our party,” Okorie remembers.

“Chief Obasanjo told me this much. They had the morbid fear that if APGA was allowed to spread and gain root in the East, that Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu would re-enact his Biafran Mission. To halt APGA’s expansion and if possible destroy it became a state policy of the Obasanjo Administration. Victor Umeh was quite handy to do the hatchet job. This is the truth of the matter. This was the genesis of the APGA imbroglio.”

But even with the party’s leadership crisis, it was able to take Imo State in 2011 with Rochas Okorocha beating then incumbent Ikedi Ohakim of the PDP. But as it turned out the Imo governor later abandoned APGA in 2013 to join the All Progressives Congress (APC). The party suffered a major setback.

“When Bola Tinubu started to develop his sphere of influence within his region, he mounted on AD, AC, ACN to be able to pull his people together. Ojukwu did that and handed over to the next generation,” notes Prof Max Nduaguibe, a chieftain of the party.

“The party was used to develop Anambra state. If you go to Anambra today, it’s one of the states in the country that is fairly developed. It is also on the platform of APGA that Rochas Okorocha won Imo governorship, but he betrayed the party. That was when betrayal started.”

But it was indeed Ojukwu’s demise in 2011 that was to mark a significant turning point in the party. It subsequently lacked a natural leader; a father figure. And what was worse, Chief Victor Umeh had forced Chief Okorie out of the party, such that it was rapidly becoming an Anambra affair.

As governor, Obi proved to be an excellent administrator. But he was a terrible party man. He lacked charisma. His frugality could not buy him followers. He probably didn’t understand the reality of today’s politics. As a result, APGA could not really grow under his leadership. The party went from bad to worse. But for Ojukwu and Goodluck Jonathan, 2010 was to mark the end of APGA in Anambra and indeed elsewhere. Ojukwu pleaded. Jonathan helped to ensure that Obi retained his seat, undermining his party’s candidate, Tony Nwoye.

Chief Willie Obiano became governor in 2014. Bickering between him and Obi caused the latter to leave the party for the PDP that same year. And as much as Obi proved a terrible party man who had little understanding of what he needed to do with APGA, Obiano has proved, perhaps, even worse.

“Obi left the party after his governorship and went to PDP. He left the party more or less intact for Obiano,” observes Prof. Nduaguibe. “It is a shame that the party is being destroyed in the face of Obiano. As the leader of the party, the party is completely being destroyed.”

It is ironic, some say, that a political party that loves to pride itself as the voice of Ndigbo, and has excelled by leveraging on the Ojukwu name, turned out to be the most antagonistic of the same ‘Igbo interest.’ On the question of Igbo marginalisation that the party ought to lead the fight against, it has failed to do so. Indeed, it is difficult to point where the party stands on issues that affect the Igbo, particularly as it concerns the restructuring of the country.

Many observers would have watched helplessly as members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) where being hacked down under the watch of Ngige in Anambra in 2005, and thought that with APGA and Obi, things might be different. But it got even worse. And if it got worse with Obi, it reached catastrophic proportions under Obiano.

Obiano’s regime coincided with the emergence of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). As a governor, nobody could have expected Obiano to openly identify with a separatist group like IPOB. But at the same time, nobody would have expected that the leader of an “Ojukwu” party will watch without uttering a word of condemnation while hapless youths were being killed for holding protests. Obiano has ensured that there is nothing of Ojukwu in APGA beyond uniforms. He is, many say, about to ensure the end of APGA itself.

“In my interview that was a sequel to the botched primaries of APGA, I said that Obiano, Umeh and (Victor) Oye, have killed APGA. And once something is dead, the next thing is a funeral. So, this is the funeral of APGA that is being conducted,” Chief Azike says.

“It might still rise from the ashes, but the truth is that Obiano Oye and Umeh superintended the killing of APGA. And when they did so, they thought, in their selfishness, that they were denying some people opportunities. They drove away Uche Ekwunife, they drove away Peter Obi, they drove away myself and Bianca Ojukwu. They drove away so many people who had brought credibility to APGA.

“They were more interested in not bringing people who had credibility and electoral appeal. They didn’t want anybody else to win because they wanted to be the only people who are powerful in APGA, that’s Obiano, Oye and Umeh. So, people they thought could win elections and have positions were shoved aside. They didn’t want to share the space.”

One of those “cheated out” by the botched APGA of last year, ironically, is Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, Ojukwu’s widow who aspired to the party’s Anambra South Senatorial ticket. Another was Dr. Ifeanyi Uba, who incidentally, won the Anambra South senate seat under YDP.

The primary, which some argue never really took place, as according to them, tickets were given to the highest bidders, remains a blot on the party’s image. By first fixing its nomination fees at an outrageously high price not many were in left doubt, that the current APGA leadership had no more than material interest to protect.

“The merchants who took over the party with Obiano decided to use it to make money. And they have made sufficient money from Imo people, from Abia people, even from Anambra people,” regrets Nduaguibe who served as Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN)

“You can see that they even denied the wife of Ojukwu ticket. Because they felt she was not going to give them the kind of money they wanted.”

Worst still, Obiano had, by showing open support for President Buhari in the lead up to the recently held presidential election, and by antagonizing Obi, his predecessor who was PDP vice presidential candidate, inadvertently attracted more animosity towards APGA.

“The essence of APGA is almost getting lost because of avarice. Avarice is the major factor. The focus and the desire by some individuals in leadership position both at the national and state levels, to make money. Therefore, they relegate to the background, those fundamental principles on which the party was founded,” says a chieftain of the party and one time governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Bob Okey Okoroji.

“I do understand too, that their leadership is not going to be forever. They will be there for a while and maybe those who share the vision of the founding fathers will get into leadership and bring the party to where it should be. The party’s performance in Imo is also not very encouraging because of the primary elections.”

Okoroji believes, nonetheless, that all hope is not lost. “Every party has its ups and downs. At a time, PDP lost its hold at the federal level. That is, even while they were in power, they lost the presidency. So, that trajectory is not peculiar to APGA,” he says.

“What is happening to APGA is a setback, but I think it’s self inflicted because the factors that led to the setbacks are factors that germinated from within. The leadership of the party has to make efforts to rejuvenate the party. We have not lost hope completely. We are still confident that the party will not go into oblivion. Yes, we lost the only senatorial seat we had; the one occupied by former National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh.”

But it’s difficult to see any future for APGA going by current trends. The only hope perhaps, is the prospect of Dr. Alex Otti emerging governor in Abia. The former banker, one could say, has the discipline to stay put and groom the party. But even that is a dimming hope.

For Okorie, the collective political aspiration of Ndigbo has been betrayed. “The party was hijacked by selfish people who were only concerned about their own personal aggrandizement. It’s a betrayal of the collective Igbo political aspiration.”