Gov. Obiano And The Challenge Of Expanding APGA In Nigeria

The party was also registered that year, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Its formation became imperative following the obvious sidelining of Ndigbo, by the first three registered political parties in this Fourth Republic.

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The parties were; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, All Peoples Party, APP and Alliance for Democracy, AD. The PDP was controlled by retired army generals and the moribund Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, led by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

PDM was also founded by a retired army general, late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the elder brother of late Umaru Yar’Adua, who in 2007, succeeded retired Genera Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigeria’s president. Late Shehu Yar’Adua was Obasanjo’s second in command when the latter was the country’s military Head of State between 1976 and 1979.

The defunct APP was dominated by the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy while AD belonged almost exclusively to the Yorubas of Southwest Nigeria.

The undermining of the people of the Southeast from the beginning of the present Republic, was in spite of the invaluable efforts of a former Vice President of Nigeria, late Dr. Alex Ekwueme in the establishment of the PDP.

At the risk of his life Ekwueme, in 1998, led a group of Nigerian patriots known as G-34 to fearlessly demand that a former Nigerian maximum ruler, late General Sani Abacha, should return the country to genuine democratic governance.

Notwithstanding his inestimable contributions to the PDP, an unconscionable gang up by a cabal denied Dr. Ekwueme, the presidential ticket of the party in its 1999 Convention at Jos, Plateau. Another Igbo man and the present Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, won the presidential ticket of the APP at its Convention in Kaduna.

He was also shortchanged in an intrigue which surprisingly threw up Chief Olu Falae of the AD, as the presidential standard bearer of a contraption known as the APP/AD Alliance.

After the 1999 general elections which was won by the PDP, the party zoned the office of the Senate President to Ndigbo of the Southeast. Sadly, President Obasanjo manipulated the process to ensure that the office was unstable and weak.

At the end of the day, each of the five States in the Southeast tempestuously produced a Senate President in the eight years of Obasanjo’s reign as a civilian president.

As a matter of fact, it was the undisguised marginalisation and meddlesomeness in the political affairs of Ndigbo that prompted the formation of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

Ironically, late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, a one time Senate President and member of the PDP encouraged Chief Chekwas Okorie and other members of the Igbo intelligentsia to establish and register the party in 2002.

The formation of APGA, was in line with the philosophy of Nigeria’s  first President, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who despite his nationalist disposition never allowed the Igbo nation to carelessly land themselves in political limbo in Nigeria.

Due to his dislike for the way the Igbos were maltreated by the powers that be in the country, late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, dumped the defunct APP and joined APGA, which made him its presidential candidate in the 2003 general elections.

For his track record as one of the foremost champions of the principles of justice, equity and fairness in Nigeria, Dim Ojukwu was massively supported by Ndigbo and other progressive minded groups in the country.

They regarded him as a square peg in a square hole. It was also for this reason that vast majority of the electorate in the Southeast states, except Ebonyi, voted overwhelmingly for the party in the 2003, general polls. But alas, their mandates were unscrupulously stolen by the party and government at the centre.

The powers that be perpetrated that hideous act to ensure that Igbos would not be united and speak with one voice again in Nigeria. For them, it meant another defeat of the defunct Biafra by other means simply because Dim Ojukwu was involved.

However, by God’s grace APGA was able to reclaim its governorship mandate in Anambra state in 2006, after almost three years of rigorous legal battles. While it consolidated its hold on Anambra, internal crises conspired with other factors to stultify the growth and expansion of APGA.

Despite the party’s victory in Imo state in the 2011 general elections, Governor Rochas Okorocha regrettably defected to the APC in 2014.

Be that as it may, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, contrary to higher expectations of the people, made some cheering impacts in the 2019, general polls in Anambra, Benue, Abia, Imo, Taraba, Kaduna and Bayelsa states, where it won some seats in either the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly elections.

The party is presently also governing the Gwagwalada Area Council in the federal capital territory, Abuja. This is a clear evidence that APGA is indeed growing and expanding into other geopolitical zones  in the country.

Undoubtedly, the party remains the third largest political party in Nigeria today. Besides, governments enthroned by it in Anambra state, since 2006, have performed excellently, especially in the past five years under the watch of Governor Willie Obiano.

The incumbent Anambra state helmsman is also the National Leader and Board of Trustees Chairman of the party. He has so far demonstrated political sagacity and pragmatism. His unwavering commitment to APGA and cordial relationship with other political parties including the APC controlled federal government show that like Dr. Azikiwe, Obiano is determined to diplomatically protect the interests of the Igbo nation in Nigeria.

Political realities in the country today indicate that neither the PDP nor APC is willing to protect the interests of people of the Southeast. Notwithstanding that a former governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi was the running mate of the PDP presidential flag bearer, Alhaji Atiku, the Igbos do not really belong to the inner caucus of the party.

The National chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, does not truly see himself as “Onye Igbo” but a “Rivers man”. On the other hand, APC’s regard for Ndigbo is an open secret. The party has made it abundantly clear that it would reward every state and ethnic group in accordance with their support for it in the last general elections.

The party performed abysmally in the Southeast. This is why APC is not considering giving the offices of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives to any person from the Southeast in the incoming 9th National Assembly.

With this attitude by the party towards the Igbo nation, it is unlikely to give its presidential ticket to “onye Igbo” in the 2023 polls. Same with the Peoples Democratic Party.

Therefore, the only viable option for Ndigbo to politically reassert themselves in Nigeria is the All Progressives Grand Alliance. As the leader of the party, Obiano has demonstrated that apart from being a responsive and people oriented leader, he also has the capacity to use diplomacy to take Ndigbo back to the center stage of Nigeria’s politics in the nearest future.

With an expanded and more formidable APGA, neither the APC nor PDP would have the capacity to outrightly win presidential election in the first ballot. In such scenario, Ndigbo who have substantial number of votes throughout Nigeria, would definitely hold their heads and shoulders high when power would be negotiated by other political parties with APGA.

Even if the All Progressives Grand Alliance would not succeed immediately to produce a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, it would nonetheless be in better stead to negotiate for influential offices for its members in the federal government and provision of basic amenities in the Southeast geopolitical zone.

Ndigbo should therefore use APGA and “Igwe bu ike” principle to once again assert themselves in Nigeria.

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