Sam Ibe/Umuahia

The recently held convention of the all Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) at Awka, Anambara State, has been described as an exercise in futility by the factional National Chairman, Maxi Okwu, while the new leadership of the party also faces challenges of making the party a truly regional and national one

On 6 June, 2015, Dr. Victor Umeh, the immediate past National Chairman of All Progressive Alliance, APGA finally took a bow after he had tenaciously held on to the position amidst the crisis that plaqued his administration.

On the day of the convention, a new leadership of the party emerged as Dr Victor Ikechukwu Oye and Mr. Labaran Maku were elected the National Chairman and National Secretary respectively. Other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) were also elected to pilot the affairs of the party which some have referred to as the second main opposition party in this new political dispensation.

•Oye: The new APGA Chairman

Although Umeh, who is considered a strong man of Anambra politics has handed over to a new leadership, in a process that did not appear controversial, the Oye led leadership must now tackle three main challenges.

Currently, Anambra is the only state being controlled by APGA out of five Igbo speaking states in the South East. Thus, the new leadership of the APGA is tasked with ensuring that the other four states are brought under the party’s umbrella to make it a truly regional party.

Another major problem confronting the new leadership is finding a way of spreading the party’s tentacles in other regions in the country especially in the North East, North Central, South West and South South.

•Maku: New APGA Secretary

The National Working Committee of the party will also contend with the threat from the Factional National Chairman of the party, Maxi Okwu, who described the recently held convention of the party as an exercise in futility on the ground that he was not carried along as a factional chairman. He claims that in October 2015, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on who actually is the authentic National Chairman, between him and Umeh.

In response to these glaring challenges which may make or mar the party’s progress, the new National Chairman has expressed optimism that the party’s executive is equal to the task. Shortly after he assumed duty as the party’s chairman, Oye told newsmen in Umuahia, the Abia State capital that the new leadership was poised to chart a new direction for the party. He however promised to steer APGA away from the leadership crisis that rocked the leadership in the past to reposition it on the path towards growth and strength. “ I believe in the party’s vision to grow into a geo-political party that would become a strong National party,” he said.

To underscore APGA’s efforts towards emerging as a National Party that would be reckoned with across the country, the Deputy National Chairman, South, Uchenna Okogbuo in a telephone interview with TheNEWS said APGA is no longer a regional party, having captured some states in the country.

According to the Deputy National Chairman, referring to APGA as a party domiciled only in Anambra state is not factually correct, noting that after the 2015 elections, APGA made inroads into Taraba and Bayelsa States. He claims that in Abia State it was obvious that the party won the election, but was robbed by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He made it known that the PDP is being challenged by his Party at the tribunal.

Okogbuo also pointed out that since his party managed to win one Federal House of Representatives seat, and 11 seats in the Abia House of Assembly, the party’s reach is beyond Anambra state. He expressed optimism that APGA will reclaim the stolen mandates in Abia and other states in the Gubernatorial, Senatorial and House of Representatives elections in court at the appropriate time, with the hope that the Judiciary will not be swayed.

The party Chieftain said his party is now spread nationwide and that with a House of Representatives member of his party now in the North, APGA is a National party and will be the party to beat in 2019. He boasts that the strategies he adopted in winning Abia will also be used to win the whole of the South. He described PDP as a dead party in Abia and beats his chest that APGA will witness considerable progress because it is a party that has captured the interest of the people.

Okogbuo dismissed Maxi Okwu and his group with a wave of the hand, claiming that they had earlier been disgraced in many courts in Nigeria. “If they are serious people they should ask for forgiveness and come back to the party instead of making noise when nobody is listening,” he said.

•Umeh: Former Chairman

In a related development, another party stalwart, Prince Chidiebere Ogbulafor said APGA has established itself in the South East, and is making frantic efforts to be on a sound footing in the North East, North Central, South West and South-South. Prince Ogbulafor, who is the younger brother of Prince Vin Ogbulafor, the former National Chairman of PDP, added that if APGA, which is considered an Igbo party, could win elections in Taraba and Bayelsa States, the party has come to stay in Nigeria. He added that APGA should no longer be regarded as a sectional party, stressing that with better funding APGA can conquer the rest of the country.

Chidebere Ogbulafor, who was the ACN candidate for Ikwuano/ Umuahia House of Representatives election in 2011 further noted that in Abia State APGA is well rooted. He claims that APGA won the recently concluded election by a landslide. He expressed delight that in the next six months when the election petition tribunal would have completed its job, APGA would be declared the winner because it actually won the elections in Abia. “When we recover our mandate in Abia, we will spread our tentacles to other regions of the country,” he said.

He noted that the National Secretary of the party who is from Nassarawa state will convince his Northern brothers to join the party. Ogbulafor made an appeal that since the party is set on the track of consolidation, it should not be pulled back by people with selfish interests. He advised Maxi Okwu to withdraw the matter before the court. “We must make the party a National Party and not a regional one and we don’t need distractions,” Ogbulafor said.

On his part, Comrade Ogbanna Emma Ihedioha says that APGA is a party every Igbo man should identify with. According to him, the Igbos have been marginalized, making APGA the only alternative party for them to launch themselves back into national reckoning. He expressed optimism that the new leadership of his party is capable of scaling the hurdles before it, and called for cooperation from every party member for the task ahead to be accomplished.