Emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) as a registered party has raised several issues, including the strength of the new party in the South-East zone and what the party would offer Ndigbo, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, who also takes a look at the leaders of the party in the zone.
South-East geo-political zone, which of late was split between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance ( APGA) began as a traditional PDP zone. The emergence of APGA, helped greatly by the influence of the late Eze Gburugburu Ndigbo, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, changed the political equation slightly, as Anambra State first became an APGA State, followed by Imo.
Today, with the demise of Ojukwu, compounded by the recent leadership crisis in APGA, the political future of the zone has emerged a central issue. This explains the attention of political strategists before and after the registration of the All Progressives Congress ( APC).
Coming at the time APGA was embroiled in a leadership crisis, with the governor of Imo State, Okorocha, emerging as a pioneer APC member, there is fear within the PDP and APGA that APC may have come to battle for the political soul of the South-East zone.
This is even as South East people are alleging that they are yet to experience federal attention and good governance, compared to other zones in the federation. They have therefore alleged that they have suffered greatly and are in search of change.
The primary allegation for the quest for change has remained that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has dominated the politics of the zone since 1999, has been unable to resolve, satisfactorily, the deep feeling of marginalisation amongst the people.
Even the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which many of the people saw as their own, had been stalled by continuous internal crises and intrigues, thus leaving the zone largely naked, politically.
Given this reality, a majority of South-Easterners, especially those dissatisfied with the status quo, see the emergence of APC as the long awaited opportunity for political deliverance.
The Nation’s investigation reveals that such electorates and political stalwarts have enthusiastically embraced the new party even before the conclusion of the registration process.
Besides the people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo and the need for a more viable change, our investigation shows that the growing influence of the APC in the geo- political zone is also attributable to the influence and acceptability of most of the politicians that are leading the new party in the zone.
In most of the South-East states, APC seems to have a lot of political figures, who are comparatively adjudged, by the electorate, as both progressives and radical and therefore more welfarist in ideology.
Some of the leaders in the states include:
Imo State:
Leading the APC in Imo State and other parts of the South-East zone today is Governor Rochas Okorocha. Okorocha, who was elected governor of Imo State on the platform of APGA, stood out in the historical gathering in Lagos, where APC was given birth to.
Not encumbered by the disagreement over his party’s participation in the merger, Okorocha has remained steadfast in the new political process and is widely considered as the major force behind APC in Imo and indeed the entire South-East zone.
Apart from Okorocha, there are also other political heavyweights in the state, whose association with APC has served as a major boost for the party in the state. They include former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, former CPC governorship candidate, Chief Mike Ahamba, who, before the registration of APC, defected to ACN in a grand style with many supporters, put by some reports as numbering over 3000.
Even before the emergence of APC, ACN, led in the state by Chief Charles Ubah, has attracted other powerful politicians.
It would be recalled that in 2011, some of the major politicians from the state, who were associated with ACN, included Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, who then had governorship ambition under ACN.
If these political heavyweights join hands, it would seem difficult to snatch the state from the APC.
Abia State
Abia State, a neighbouring state to Imo State, is said to be greatly influenced by the political revolution going on in Imo, where the state governor has not only turned the state to on APC state but has emerged a leader of the party in the entire South-East zone.
Already, Governor Okorocha has promised to support APC members in the state to take over power in Umuahia.
When he played host to a delegation under the platform of Igbo Rescue Mission from Abia State that paid him a solidarity visit in Government House, Owerri, Okorocha said, “There is political bondage in Abia State which the people needed to be liberated from. This is the time to awaken our people, as Igbo people are now free. This is the time to embrace the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
Ben Udensi, the leader of the group said they came to visit Okorocha in acknowledgment that he is the “true leader of the Igbo people.”
Investigations conducted at the grassroots show that APC is also poised to uproot the PDP in Abia. The Nation learnt that the new party will be led mainly by young but radical politicians. Aside the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) flag bearer in the 2011 gubernatorial election in the state, Prince Paul Ikonne, ANPP member of Board of Trustees, Dr. Francis Egu, had, according to some sources, been pencilled down to play leading roles in the APC 2015 campaigns in the state.
Enugu State
In Enugu State, the APC has also commenced active mobilisation for 2015 elections. In one of its earliest public gatherings, the association said the PDP has been deceiving the South East geo-political zone.
Arising from a recent one-day stakeholders’ preliminary meeting last Friday, the party alleged that PDP has not only failed the nation in the last 14 years, but has also squandered over N50 trillion of the nation’s wealth and should, therefore, be dislodged from power, come 2015.
APC in Enugu also alleged that the second tenure of the Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chume, has become a disaster, alleging that “it is riddled with corruption while the economy has become stagnant.”
These allegations are contained in a communiqué jointly signed by the representatives of the four merging political parties.
They include Val Nnaedozie of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Emma Eneukwu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Peter Okonkwo of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Osita Okechukwu of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Even before the registration of the APC, the party has made some in-roads in Enugu.
Amongst the leaders of the party in the state include,the coordinator of APC in the state, Chief Osita Okechukwu who was the gubernatorial candidate of the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in 2011, Maj.-Gen. Josef Okoloagu (retd.) of ACN.
The Nation learnt that the party’s recent campaign for the next governor of the state to come from Nsukka zone has made it a major political force to contend with.
While other parties are still debating over the issue, the new party has formally zoned Enugu State governorship position in 2015 to the Enugu North Senatorial District, known as Nsukka.
In a press release, Okechukwu said the decision to zone the position to Nsukka was taken at a meeting in Enugu.
He therefore appealed to credible aspirants from Enugu East and Enugu West to support the decision in the spirit of brotherhood.
“In 1999, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East became governor in Enugu State and he ruled for eight years. Sullivan Chime, who hails
from Enugu West, took over in 2007 and by the time his tenure comes to an end in May 2015, he must have ruled for eight years. So, we believe in the APC that for equity, fairness and justice to prevail, the next governor should come from Enugu North, which is Nsukka zone,” he noted.
This move, we gathered, has already put other political parties, especially the ruling PDP on its toes.
Ebonyi State
In Ebonyi State, the National Chairman of All Nigeria People’s Party ( ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who is one of the principal founders of APC, is already leading the campaign for APC in the state henceforth. A former governor of old Abia State, Onu will be working with other leaders in all the parties that merged to battle the ruling People’s Democratic Party.
Even before the merger, opposition political parties in the state had shared common ambition of uprooting the PDP in the state.
