By Oguwike Nwachuku
Senator Stella Oduah (Anambra North) was a member of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) for barely three months.
The defection of the former Aviation Minister from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in June was greeted with fanfare in Abuja at APGA headquarters where its National Chairman, Victor Oye, and other ranking members received her.
Those who joined Oye to welcome Oduah included Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central), Ben Obi (Igwe APGA), Sir Norbert Obi (Anambra State APGA Chairman), and Uchenna Okafor (Anambra State Commissioner for Transport).
Oye said Oduah had proven her worth in the Senate and was therefore welcome to APGA.
He added that APGA had become the beautiful bride in the South East, and that many more would join it ahead of the 2019 elections. He was right. Many more did join APGA.
“We are confident of clinching the governorship seats in the entire South East come 2019 and will also have strong showings at both state and national legislative elections in other states,” Oye told the audience.
But the romance was short lived. During her sojourn in APGA, Oduah understudied how things actually work internally in the public interest.
She did not want to be carried away by the “nkea bu nkea anyi” (this is our own) or the “onye aghala nwanne ya (do not abandon your kit and kin) sermon.
Exactly three months and two weeks, June 6 to September 21 to be precise, Oduah bid APGA good bye. Many wondered what happened. I also did.
She had completed her research and learnt her lessons the politicians’ way, and picked race as fast as her legs could carry her. To where, you ask? Back to where she was coming from – the PDP. She must have thought that the devil she knows is better than the angel she does not know.
Pronto, Oduah made public the report of her findings of APGA National Working Committee (NWC) led by Oye through a statement from her media office. What she disclosed was neither encouraging nor palatable.
“Politics has always been about ideology and delivering service to the people for me, because I believe leadership is all about solving problems,” she said.
“Political platforms must afford members unfettered opportunity to participate in the electoral process and to solve the problems of their community, constituency and state.
“I joined APGA because I thought it had sound ideological leanings native to Igboland. But my ideological expectations were a mirage. I discovered that internal democracy, which will guarantee justice, fairness and equity, was also not in practice in the party.
“After due consultations and with respect to my religious beliefs, I announce that PDP remains the vehicle through which I will keep fulfilling my mandate to the people of Anambra North. Thank you.”
Yes. Stella Oduah left APGA back for her vomit, the PDP.
The Presidential, Governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly primaries held nationwide recently to pick candidates for the 2019 general election have exposed the underbelly of virtually all the political parties.
The primaries showed that there is no remarkable difference between the political parties when weighed on the scale of internal democracy, leadership integrity and interest in the affairs of the ordinary people.
Viewed from what transpired within the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and within the circles of the main and minor opposition parties, the story is the same – lack of internal democracy, arbitrariness, impunity, leadership arrogance, greed, lies, inconsistency, brigandage. Name it.
Everywhere you turned, money politics took the centre stage and entrapped the conscience of party leaders who are supposed to be harbingers of the future of the country through the instrumentality of their political platforms.
Many had thought, erroneously though, that the political parties that are wont to condemn all such sordid tendencies are serious and different. No. They are not. If anything, they encourage the charade as we will shortly see from the APGA experience.
Minders of political parties sanction the wrong things because doing so will serve their purpose, which ab initio, is to oil their personal interest, the interest of their family and associates, and that of the select few that have sworn that the ordinary people should be kept perpetually down and helpless. How sad!
During the so-called primaries, what Nigerians were served by the political parties’ headships and their chieftains was nothing but the Machiavellian-style brand of politics, “the end justifies the means”.
Take for instance the lamentation of a woman on a video that trended on Facebook where she said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State single-handedly handpicked candidates for the state’s House of Assembly against the wishes of the people.
Wike is not the only person culpable of this sort of act?
Many party faithful recently protested at the APC headquarters in Abuja where they called for the resignation of its National Chairman, Adam Oshiomhole.
Their complaint? A lack of internal democracy. Impunity. Arbitrariness. And other unbecoming demeanour that characterised the parties’ primaries.
The wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, described what transpired in the APC primaries as an illegality.
Also, former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, fell short of calling Oshiomhole a criminal in the APC leadership saddle based on his own experience in his state, Jigawa.
By and large, it was complaints galore from aspirants, party members and supporters, yet the parties’ leaderships did not blink an eye because their perception of democracy, so to say, is at variance with global acceptable standard.
Like in other parties, the processes that led to the emergence of APGA candidates across the country have elicited so much concern.
Many believe the APGA primaries were nothing but a bazaar and that the leadership must answer questions from members and supporters concerning the party’s choice of candidates for the 2019 election.
To many APGA admirers, the primaries have called for deep introspection going by those the NWC has handed tickets as candidates.
Before we return to what may await APGA in the future, it is imperative we compare what Oduah said while quitting APGA with what one of the frontline aspirants to the governorship in Imo State, Frank Nneji, told his supporters as he lamented the experience of most aspirants.
Nneji wrote: “Today, we have heard that APGA has put forward Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’ s name as the winner of its Imo gubernatorial primaries.
“As you know, APGA gubernatorial primaries were slated for the 5th of October. When they could not hold that day for reasons unknown to us, they were shifted to the 6th of October.
“Again the event did not hold on that day. It was shifted to Sunday October 7. We mobilised to the venue and waited for the officials. We didn’t see anyone until nightfall when we dispersed.
“At about 10 pm we got news that the primaries were taking place at a location different from the one earlier advertised. We also learnt that there were no APGA state or national officials in attendance. No other aspirant participated in the said primaries except Araraume and his supporters.
“It is unfortunate that our dear party we all believed in has been dragged down to such depths.
“I thank everyone who has supported me in my bid to clinch the governorship ticket of APGA, a party which I believed was keenly interested in uplifting the Igbo man, and the Imo man especially, politically and economically.
“My desire to use my talents and resources to arrest the decline of Imo State is what motivated me to push aside my reservations about running for political office.
“I have lived and worked here for thirty five years, and I know that Imo was better than it is now and that it could be rebuilt to even surpass what it used to be.
“My political journey began almost two years ago when I decided to develop a Blueprint or Template for the development of Imo State. My intention was to hand the document over to the incoming administration to implement for the benefit of the people.
“To this end, I assembled a team, including myself, which met in my house almost every weekend for about forty weeks during which they interacted with experts and consultants from various places and organisations including the Ford Foundation.
“These experts and consultants identified the various problems facing our state and proffered solutions. The areas covered included Health, Education, Agriculture, Revenue Generation, Pensions, the Civil Service, the Judiciary, Job Creation, Diaspora Engagement, Infrastructure and Tourism, to mention a few.
“At the end of it all we came up with a beautiful and comprehensive document, a veritable road map, which, if implemented, would change Imo State for the better.
“Members of the team pointed out that whoever the document was presented to may not implement it at all and would rob Imo people of its benefits and urged me to run for office to implement the Blueprint. That is how I got involved in the governorship race.
“I chose APGA as my vehicle because I believed in its ideals of uplifting the Igbo man. I proceeded to set up my structure and began my campaigns. You all can testify that I worked very hard in this regard.
“I was motivated and impressed by the interest my candidacy generated and its acceptance. Many people told me they were going to join APGA because of me, and indeed the number of APGA members increased after I joined.
“I have no doubt that if things had been done properly, and a free and fair selection process had been put in place by the powers that be in APGA, I would have won the primaries given your immense support and goodwill.
“Unfortunately, we all have been let down by a party which was unable to organise decent, acceptable and rancour free primaries at all levels.
“I share in your disappointment and urge you all to keep faith as events unfold.
“Once more, I thank you all for your support and belief in me and my aspirations and may God help us to get the kind of leadership that will uplift Imo.
“May God bless and keep you all.”
Nneji is hardly the only one hurt by the charade called Imo primaries which Oye midwifed that produced Araraume and the plot to shut out other aspirants after they had put in all they have, including staking their integrity, only to be messed up.
Before the primaries, I read in the media predictions that Oye does not have the discipline and strength of character required to conduct free, fair and rancour-free primaries for APGA.
In fact, some of the writers had alleged it was in his character to go for the highest bidder, and how else can that be proven than the way Araraume emerged?
My admiration of APGA pre-dates Oye’s tenure and the administration of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State.
Though not a politician in the mould of the Oyes of this world who determine what goes on in APGA, I am a stakeholder, having used my profession to impact positively on the development and survival of APGA.
I should therefore worry if untoward developments hitherto not associated with the party are now rearing their ugly heads under Oye’s watch.
Nneji is not the only one who thinks the lot of the Igbo man could be improved and made better through APGA. How disappointed many are? Everybody is asking Oye what happened in Imo.
For instance, how true is it that what Oye superintended over in Imo was a bazaar that yielded billions of naira for APGA leadership instead of a credible process expected to yield credible candidates?
Why would the Oye-led APGA prefer a quick fix approach of handing the party tickets to the highest bidders, to a process that would have led to party spread, growth and expansion, with an eye on men and woman as the change agents to reposition APGA in the South East in particular, and Nigeria in general, on the path of sustainable development?
Do Oye and his team think APGA will be the same again after what people know transpired in Imo and other parts of the country with regard to picking candidates for next year’s election?
It will take the special grace of God for APGA candidates to win because of the bad image the warped primaries has brought to the party.
Even beyond next year, many people will view APGA with greater suspicion, and that alone has the potential to further limit the long desired growth and spread of the party.
I disagree with those who say that Obiano, the National Leader of APGA, should be left out of what transpired in the primaries.
Why would Obiano be aloof over such developments? Is it in his interest that APGA expands and gets more states and membership or have Anambra as the lone state APGA controls?
Whether Obiano likes it or not, the day of reckoning is around the corner when he will be reminded that after eight years in the saddle, he could not improve on the perception and character of the party that people worked so hard to entrust in his hand as Governor and leader.
Let it not be that by remaining aloof to the challenges in APGA Obiano is confirming insinuations that he is planning to defect to the APC.
The decision to compromise APGA governorship primaries in Imo may look like a deal that has yielded good profit. It may also have underscored perception of infiltration of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s mercenaries in APGA.
But more importantly, what transpired in Imo shows that there are more undertakers in APGA today doing deals and making profits while at the same time masquerading as its leaders. Such persons must be stopped now before they bury APGA finally.
That should be the focus of the protesting Imo governorship aspirants, those wise men who fell into the trap of Oye and his ilk and therefore got treated ignominiously.
The best and non-negotiable move expected of them is to head for the courts to compel Oye and his team to account for all they fraudulently harvested by way of bazaar they called primaries.
I have had contacts with those who think the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should be involved. Too bad.
The late leader of APGA, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, whose name they have so bastardised in politics, will be glad in his grave to hear that the ill-treated Imo governorship aspirants and others who believe in fairness, equity and justice trod the path of honour to preserve whatever integrity is left of APGA.
It is also on that note that we should take seriously the birth, during the week, of the New APGA (N-APGA) as a fall-out of the misnomer called primaries and the determination of the aspirants to retrieve the party from the grip of the undertakers led by Oye.
Failure to do something for posterity could mean that, nkea bu nke anyi (APGA is our own) has been changed to, nkea bu nke ndi oshi (APGA IS FOR SOME CRIMINALS).
