Opinion
By Ifeanyichukwu Afuba.
FRANCIS Cardinal Arinze, the Nigerian to have attained the highest ranking yet at the Vatican recently intervened in the southeast dimension of the Nigerian crisis. Cardinal Arinze expressed the view that engagement in party politics offered a superior alternative to the agitation for Biafra by some sections of the southeast.
Daily Sun of May 20, 2021, quoted the prelate as saying: “Igbo people should take political actions. By this, I mean Igbo people belonging strongly to major political parties in the country. This will give them the opportunity to participate in political discussions. When this happens the Igbo will get what is due for them, but staying out of politics or probably staying in London to criticize the government without making effort to be part of government and part of decision-making will do the people no good.” I dare say that the Cardinal’s advocacy largely makes a case for the mission of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Aside from the stellar performance of the Willie Obiano administration, there are a few other reasons why the APGA is not only headed for a resounding victory in November 6, 2021, Anambra State governorship election but equally poised for a greater role in the Nigerian project.
Although the APGA is currently Nigeria’s third-largest party, the colossal failures of the PDP and APC in 22 years of combined presidential power puts APGA with its promises in the spotlight. PDP’s 16-year reign witnessed another cycle of wasted oil boom; pervasive corruption, brazen election rigging, and desecration of constitutional injunctions.
Massive depreciation of the naira has continued under APC rule with insecurity and discriminatory policies of the Buhari government tearing at the foundation of the Nigerian state. So disappointing were the records of the PDP and APC that in the 2019 presidential election, two prominent Nigerians, Professor Wole Soyinka, and Catholic Bishop Mathew Kukah regretted that there was really nothing to choose between the two leading parties/candidates.
If there is any political party in Nigeria today with a clear vision of social justice, it’s APGA. It’s to be remembered that the party was a creation of felt inequity and imbalance in the fourth republic demographics. The decades-long Igbo exclusion and marginalization of minority groups had extended to the political power – base of the fourth republic. This explains why the formation of APGA cut across partisan interests, with non – politicians even playing active roles. Senators Chuba Okadigb, Ike Nwachukwu, businessman Arthur Eze and a female national Commissioner of INEC at the time were part of the rally that birthed APGA.
In the intervening years, APGA’s mixed bag of fortunes may qualify it to be described as the most brutalized, yet, most resilient party of the fourth republic. It is sometimes forgotten that the party’s governorship victories in Enugu and Imo States in 2003; Imo State again 2007; Abia State 2015 were either outrightly stolen through falsification of results or invalidation of the processes by the electoral body.
Yet, the APGA continues to push on. In the second week of February 2021, the news broke of the election of Shehu Sale of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the by-election for Magama/Rija federal constituency of Niger State. The development was bad news for those who love to restrict APGA to the southeast, nay Anambra State. Other members of this tribe who tended to view the party’s state and federal legislative victories in Taraba and Benue States in the 2019 general elections as a fluke were jolted by the breakthrough in Niger State. Viewed along with the party’s strong showing in the 2019 Zamfara State governorship election, the potentials of the APGA as a national political party easily come to the fore.
It’s little surprise that one of the most significant agenda settings on the 2023 presidential election has come from APGA.
Daily Independent of April 17, 2021, reported APGA’s presidential aspirant and former Chief Judge of Anambra State, Professor Peter Umeadi as saying that the insistence of the north to produce the next President of Nigeria against the agitation of the south for power shift approximates secession.
According to the former jurist, ‘opposition to rotate the Presidency with the South is akin to the flip side of secession. Both sides are not what Nigeria needs at this point in time.’
Umeadi’s perspective on the danger to the corporate existence of the country posed by exclusion may not be virgin but it is uncommon. The appraisal coming from a notable citizen ‘representing’ a key player in the political process, APGA, promises to weigh in on the search for solutions. Sometimes, it takes a balance of extremities to chart the common ground forward.
And on the middle ground, it was the APGA government of Chief Willie Obiano that gave vent to southeast solidarity when the administration hosted the Ohaneze Summit on Restructuring at Awka on May 21, 2018. The resolution for a new Nigerian Constitution tagged Ekwueme Square Declaration and providing for a six-year presidency rotating among the six geo-political zones had Professor Chukwuma Soludo as Chairman of the Organising Committee.
At the northwest zone public hearing on amending the 1999 Constitution, the people of Kaduna State on 26 May 2021 called for consideration of the 2014 National Conference report. APGA associates with the said Conference and rightfully take part credit for its resolutions. The duo of Victor Umeh and Dora Akunyili ably articulated the party’s vision at the Conference which approved that an additional state be created in the southeast.
In the light of APGA’s role as a voice for the marginalized and disadvantaged and indeed as an alternative to the resolution of the Nigerian crisis, the least the Anambra society which has benefited most from APGA can do is to return the party to power in the November 6, 2021 governorship poll.
– June 04, 2021 @ 11:49 GMT
Tags: APGA More than political party
