The Auctioning Of APGA

By Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike

For those who might not know, APGA is the All Progressives Grand Alliance, a political party founded by Chief Chekwas Okorie and Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu in collaboration with other prominent Igbo sons, some of who never carried the card of any political party including APGA, but generously provided resources and logistics to ensure that “The Igbos also have our own party”; just like the Yoruba’s had AD and the Hausa’s APP”; that was the sentimental basis for the founding and establishment of APGA; and its success was instantaneous as Peter Obi won the election to be Governor of Anambra State in 2003, though he had to go through the courts to retrieve his mandate in a very tortuous journey which took the better part of three years to accomplish.

*Chief Ziggy Azike

I could have titled this piece “The betrayal Of APGA” or “The betrayal Of Chekwas” or “The Betrayal Of Ojukwu” or even “The Betrayal Of Bianca” or, and why not; “The Betrayal Of Ziggy”; because this article is to tell a tale of betrayals by a trio whom history thrust the fate of APGA into their care at a time like this and who have proceeded so wantonly, so prodigally and so treacherously to dissipate, abuse, waste, decimate and completely decapitate the legacy of Chekwas Okorie, Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Professor Ben Obumselu, Engr. Arthur Eze and the legion of great Igbo patriots who invested in sundry ways into building the now wasted monument and institution called APGA.

The trio of Victor Umeh, Willie Obiano and Victor Oye are today holding exalted positions in our land courtesy of the valiant sacrificial labours of our “hero’s past” because the banner of APGA was used to foist them to prominence having been raised by APGA without any investments on their part; they like all prodigals care less about the heirlooms and the historical significance of sustaining a legacy; to them, APGA is a loot to be apportioned, shared balkanised and gobbled up in a rambunctious sleazy feast; to them; APGA has become a cash cow to be milked, to them APGA the hen that laid the golden eggs must also be menu on the dinner table tonight all because their tomorrow must be now. 

*Chief Victor Oye and Gov Obiano 

How did APGA get to this sorry pass? How do I start the story? Let’s try to put things in context; have you listened to the audio recording of the meeting Governor Obiano had with Ifeanyi Ubah moderated by Dr. Cletus Ibeto? That tape went viral; and you would have heard Obiano pleading with Ifeanyi Ubah to deploy his machinery and support his second term election. Obiano unequivocally and in very clear succinct terms assured Ubah that he, Obiano, will support Ubah as candidate of APGA for the Anambra South Senate seat. Now, how did Obiano honour that solemn pledge after Ifeanyi kept his side of the bargain and Obiano achieved his now “famous” 21/21? I will tell you. Obiano knowing full well that he had made a commitment to Ubah, now went and encouraged the widow of our founder, HE Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu to contest for the same Anambra South Senate seat under APGA. Then this serial betrayer and amoral traitor proceeded to receive all manner of inducement. The long and short of it is that today, neither Bianca nor Ifeanyi is the candidate of APGA for that seat.

The story of the auctioning of APGA cannot be fully told in any single newspaper article. But in trying to put things in context, it is important to say that at the time Governor Obiano decided to install Chief Victor Oye as National Chairman of APGA, Oye had never been a member of our party, prior to that time. Oye had been my friend and I knew he was not one of us; but as we have only one Governor who triples as party National Leader and Chairman of our Board of Trustees, we deferred to him to produce anybody he desired as party National Chairman because his re-election was the most important item in our party’s calendar and we knew that he needed to feel secure and assured of the National Chairman to warrantee his nomination and re-election bid. Some of us who had noticed Oye’s predisposition and predilection to corrupt practices had told Obiano that he should consider letting Oye go once his own re-election was accomplished, but little did we know that Obiano perished the thought as he needed someone of Oyes rare amorality for the bazaar he was planning for the 2019 election season. We will come back to Oye presently.

I mentioned a trio at the beginning of this essay, yet so far I have not narrated the role of Victor Umeh who today is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and who is the immediate past National Chairman of APGA, the Master Puppeteer who manipulates Obiano and Oye to do his bidding, particularly as he has convinced Obiano that  he (Obiano) is a prime beneficiary of his artifice as he made Obiano Governor when he, Victor Umeh was National Chairman of APGA. Victor Umeh considers himself the kingmaker of APGA and the “agbawo dike izu” of APGA.

He is also the messenger of doom for APGA; it was Victor Umeh who brought the information to some spiritual and temporal leaders of Imo State that he had chosen for Imo people the person who will become Governor under APGA. Yes, it was Victor Umeh that became the Chief Auctioneer.

It is trite news that in the run up to the forthcoming 2019, elections in Imo State more than 25 persons showed interest to contest the Governorship election under the APGA; very early in the day we had told the leadership of the party that with so many aspirants, the only way to avoid rancour and ensure victory was to work out a process of consensus where the aspirants would by themselves produce a candidate.

The leadership, starting from our National Leader, Governor Obiano, past National Chairman and Master Puppeteer/Chief Auctioneer Senator Victor Umeh and National Chairman Chief Victor Oye did not want this; they jointly and severally mouthed “free and fair primaries”; alas what they actually wanted was chaos, and a bazaar where they would eventually auction the tickets to the highest bidders; so they started what Fela would have called “Government Magic”.

They started selling delegates forms, at N10,000 (ten thousand Naira) per delegate for respective elections; thus if you wanted to be a delegate for the House of Assembly; House of Representatives; Senatorial and Governorship primaries you must cough out a total of N40,000 yes; (forty thousand Naira); we had made APGA a solid grassroots brand, and there was a deluge and the party raked in billions of Naira from the thousands of prospective delegates; then the “national leadership” sent out feelers to aspirants, if you want your delegates list to be used (you know that in Imo State where Rochas had not paid workers and pensioners, the poor masses whose shops and markets had also been demolished could not possibly purchase the forms; so aspirants paid for them); you were approached to come and pay humongous bribes; the auction was on.

After collecting so much money in all manner of currencies from diverse aspirants, the Leadership of the party who had promised “free and fair primaries” started orchestrating confusion and tension and deliberately aborted the “primaries”. Nothing held because having collected money from so many bidders there was confusion as to who was to be delivered.

So there was no primary election for Governorship and other positions in Imo State under APGA. It was mayhem galore.
In Anambra State the story was a bit different because “primaries of a sort” was held in many constituencies and when many incumbents of the State House of Assembly lost out, and Certificates of Return were issued to the winners; they promptly started collecting signatures for the impeachment of Governor Obiano who all along was holidaying in his favourite fleshpots somewhere, he quickly issued instructions to Oye to give Certificates of Return to all the incumbent Members of the Anambra House of Assembly because they threatened to impeach him.

Today there are multiples of persons holding Certificates of Return for the same constituency in Imo and Anambra States.
The reality is that the trio of Obiano, Umeh and Oye have totally, completely destroyed the APGA brand in Imo State; APGA’S promise has been shattered and demolished; the APGA which Imo people prayed will come and restore their land just as NCNC and NPP did is no more; the N-APGA which was a response by the Union of APGA Governorship aspirants in Imo State is struggling to revive a highly demoralised populace; in Anambra, APGA will surely lose constituencies; if anybody under APGA wins, it will be because of the individual's rating and efforts, the brand APGA has been damaged and no longer represents “Nkea bu nkanyi”; “this is our own”; Obiano, Umeh and Oye have managed to destroy in one fell swoop, a legacy built by Chekwas Okorie, Peter Obi, Ikemba Nnewi, and all other Igbo patriots who invested integrity, goodwill, sacrificial leadership, good governance, patriotism and dedication to high ideals in directing the people.

Just as APGA was going national, having won a House of Representative Seat in Taraba, elections in Kaduna, FCT, and Bayelsa States, the demon spirit of Judas Iscariot captivated and enraptured the leadership of APGA. Today neither Obiano, Umeh or Oye can safely step into Imo State without the highest level of security as Imo people hold them responsible for undermining and truncating their dreams and hope in a better and greater Imo State from May 29, 2019.
I weep for APGA.

*Chief Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike is a member of  the Member of the Board of Trustees APGA and Governorship Aspirant

Peter Obi And Wise Men From The East

By Ozah Matthew

The biblical tales of the wise men project moral lessons to believers especially the three who visited Jesus Christ at birth. Nowadays, it is difficult to find wise men from the four corners of the globe with good intentions. Therefore, in many ways, the Eastern leaders’ comment the other day on Peter Obi’s choice as Vice President to Abubakar Atiku in the next year’s elections is to say the least, shocking and undeserving of real and genuine leaders. 

*Peter Obi at the 2016 Democratic National
Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia

Their improper act has once again, exposed some ugly nature of politics from that region. Indeed, politics of self interest seems to be very important to Igbo leaders whose ‘sophisticated’ thought now brings conflicting views into the Atiku’s running mate choice.

Peter Obi At 56

By Valentine Obienyem

Today, the 19th day of July, 2017, the man regarded as one of the best in governance, at any tier, in the annals of our country turns 56. As usual, drums would be rolled out by some of his admirers who believe excellence ought to be celebrated. They contend that if for nothing else, it is a means of promoting merit as role models in name and indeed. In a country where even imbeciles garbed in purple fall over one another seeking attention, it is about time the society set up a clear template for granting honour to whom it is due.

*Peter Obi 

In another vein, beyond panegyrics by his enthusiasts, most people will just wish him a perfunctory ‘Happy Birthday’.

In this piece, I set out to re-examine, through the memories of his tenure, what good governance is all about and to encourage Nigerians to look up to him as the man who came into governance through entirely different route, with an entirely different mentality and left it as nobody has done in the history of governance in Nigeria. For me, this is decent birthday present that would also instruct those in governance on the right way to go.

Born on July 19, 1961, Peter Gregory Obi started his life in the rustic city of Onitsha, and obtained his initial formal education in Onitsha and Nsukka. He has since attended some of the best tertiary institutions in the world in his thirst for intellectual insemination to boost his competences.

How shall we rank him? Which of us possesses so varied the Knowledge to understand him adequately? As an experiment in perspective, let us see him through his dramatic entrance into government and what he did while there as distinct from business as usual.

Before him, news emanating from the State was not palatable at all. It was always stories of intrigues, squander mania, rape and rapine. Visions and memories of the State tormented all persons of goodwill; an involuntary gloom penetrated our souls, chilling their imaginations. The Bakassi group and their co-predators worsened the situation as they turned our dear State into a vast Golgotha of carnage, an arena for horror, where her children tore and destroyed one another with the clear conscience of nature. Concerned like other decent people, Peter Obi developed an urge to turn these barbarisms into civilization and this was what compelled him to seek election into public office.

Poverty And Hunger Amid Opulence

By Matthew Ozah  

I shall begin this piece on a morbid note, with other disturbing tales. A news report that went viral on the internet has it that a seven-year-old boy in Lagos was lynched for allegedly stealing garri, perhaps to quench hunger with it. Of course, the wickedness and horror that followed the public anger shows signs of the times in the country.

President Buhari's 72nd Birthday party 

Also, President Muhammadu Buhari recently raised the alarm and warned Nigerians to brace themselves for an imminent outbreak of famine in the country. In the same breath, he called on religious and traditional leaders to assist him prevail on the selfish businessmen who took advantage of the huge demand for Nigerian grains in the global market, to embark on mindless and profit sojourn exporting grains across our borders and put local market and citizens out of food. Another horrendous situation is the United Nations’ warning that 75,000 North East children risk dying of hunger if we don’t do something urgently about it.

Oddly enough, in the face of all these heartbreaking news coupled with inflation and looming economic hardship in the country, the pomposity about wealth and how it’s being exhibited by the political elite is evidence that opulence has found a new home in Nigeria. The position the political elite chose to place themselves and the masses is like a tale of two cities, on the one hand, is a view of a world dominated by an empire without a king on which the sun proverbially never set, on the other, an amorphous blob in which people have dissolved into areas of darkness and are not remembered until election period.

Nigerians will find much to intrigue, entertain and absolutely electrify while wondering and trying to figure out the mind-set and the subtle difference occasioned by the wide gaps between politicians and the masses. By their very nature, you need no interpretation to discover their deceit and everywhere they exhibit their prowess, that immediate striking influence which requires no labels will sense and expose their presence. It is, therefore, hurting that politicians are insensitive or they pretend not to have any clue about the sufferings of the masses, of whom they cajole with mouth watering promises during election campaigns. They fight for their self aggrandizement once in power.

A case in point is a recent report of N3.6 billion expended on exotic cars for members of the House of Representatives. They chose to splash money on luxury cars at a time the country’s economy is having some difficulty and when crude oil price, the major foreign exchange earner for the country is dropping on a daily basis. In defence, they rebuff any one that dares to question their misdeed, claiming that the cars are not ‘luxury’ and that it is long overdue for their oversight functions and they cannot sacrifice anything for it. Yet, they are quick to ask Nigerians to endure the economic hardship and sacrifice more for the nation. But when it affects them, they shall be first served.

Gov Ugwuanyi And The Rampaging Herdsmen

By Dan Amor 

Like a typical Nigerian nightmare, the incessant attacks on some communities in Enugu state by suspected Fulani herdsmen have generated more heat than light. In March this year, 70 youths on a rescue mission to extricate their people from the vice-grip of Fulani herdsmen at Ugwuleshi in Agwu local government area of the state, were rounded up and detained by security forces. 

President Buhari and Gov Ugwuanyi

On April 25, barely a month after the first incident, several indigenes of Ukpabi Nimbo village in Uzouwani local government area were reportedly killed by Fulani herdsmen. And most recently, a seminarian, Lazarus Nwafor, was killed and four others including a pregnant woman, severely injured by the herdsmen. The woman later gave up the ghost from the injuries she sustained during the attack. Apart from the usual pantomimes by the authorities that they would not tolerate criminal herdsmen, the Buhari-led Federal government appears helpless and lacks the political will to confront this hydra-headed monster threatening the peace and security of the country.

It is this ugly development which has generated sustained tension in the state hitherto acknowledged everywhere as the most peaceful in the entire South East geopolitical zone of the country. Standing in the middle of this tension is Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the governor and 'chief security officer' of the state on whose desk the buck stops. And since irrational impulses are not surprising in the stress and tension that characterise a demented society such as Nigeria, many furious indigenes of the Coal-City state are calling on the governor to declare war with the marauders. True, in an atmosphere of violence, reason is sometimes abandoned and humanitarian principles forgotten since the inflamed passions of the time lead men to commit atrocities. But the concern here is not with the psychological pathology of those who commit atrocities but rather with what has turned our nation to a slaughterhouse where human beings are daily murdered with intimidating alacrity.

It would, of course, be absurd to deny that the Federal government is implicitly or explicitly responsible for this carnival of anomie enveloping the nation. In the case of Enugu state where some of us virtually grew up, the lamentable absence of development before now, especially in the rural areas, provides an alibi for the germination and cross fertilization of criminals especially of the herdsmen variety. For instance, Enugu state parades some of the most dreaded and deadly forests in the South East. Some of these forests include Ugwuogo Nike, Umuopu Enugu Ezike, Umuogbo Agu, Ette in Igboeze North, Affa Eke Road by Ninth Mile Express, Akpakwumeze, Nimbo, Obollo Afor, Atakwu, Akwugbe Ugwu, Agwu, Ugwu Onyeama, etcetera. In fact, there are so many thick forests in Enugu state that would even make Sambisa Forests, the Boko Haram battle field pale into insignificance. For so many years, the Fulani herdsmen have been living in these forests and nobody cared any hoot to ask why they prefer to live in the forests like apes. It is in these forests that the herdsmen stay to perfect their strategies to unleash terror on their host communities since even the natives lack access roads and rural telephony to alert the police and other security agencies.