UPP Battles APGA as New Face of Ndigbo
The United Progressive Party founded by Chief Chekwas Okorie, a founding member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, is seeking to use the forthcoming Anambra governorship election to dislodge APGA. Will it succeed, David-Chyddy Eleke asks
The United Progressive Party, UPP a party founded by Chief Chekwas Okorie, a founding member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) is moving to dislodge the former as the face of Ndigbo’s participation in politics, writes David-Chyddy Eleke. Weeks ago, the Anambra State chapter of the UPP conducted its congress and also constituted its state executives. Its aim is to ensure that it repositions and makes an impact in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.
This came weeks after the Customary Government of the Indigenous People of Biafra, CG-IPOB, which consists mainly of the elders of IPOB said it would participate in the politics of Nigeria. In doing so, the group which has a large number of followers in the South East opted for UPP as its official party, calling on all its members to register with the party, and also on politicians who are sympathetic to the Biafran cause to run for elective offices on the platform of the party.
The thinking of the group is that its refusal to participate in the elective process in the country in the past has not helped it to secure freedom for its followers. IPOB now believes that participating in the electoral process would help it to pursue its wider objective of leaving Nigeria.
Therefore by sponsoring candidates for elective post or voting in elected representatives, it could through its members influence the workings of Nigerian government from the south east end and canvass the secession bid at a higher level, even through legislation.
Be that as it may, the preference of UPP over APGA which has been acclaimed to be an authentic Igbo party has to some extent watered down the ‘Igboness’ of the APGA, which had the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as its face. With this, the UPP is set to topple APGA as the prefer political party for Ndigbo, and the forthcoming governorship election in the state may be an opportunity for the party to prove itself as it threatens to unseat the incumbent APGA governor, Chief Willie Obiano.
In a recent press release by the party, shortly after the election of its state executives in Anambra, the state publicity secretary, Uche Amaku condemned the politics of acrimony which the APGA has plunged the state into as a result of its inability to foster cohesion for the good of the state. Part of the release read, “The United Progressives Party (UPP), Anambra State chapter has decried the politics of brickbats, name calling and character assassination going on in Anambra State, stressing that what the state needs now was peace-building and ideological politics.
“Anambra UPP hails the reconstitution of the State Working Committee of the party by the National Working Committee, and notes that the party, unlike APGA was coming to groom leaders and empower the people with proper political education and social orientation to make the state occupy its position as the leading state in Southeast and Nigeria as a whole.”
The party had in a congress elected 28-member State Working Committee led by Dr. Sylvester Igwilo and Fidelis Okafor as chairman and secretary, respectively. The party through Amaku expressed happiness over the decision of the national leadership to heed the quest by diverse people, including the IPOB to join the party and further the political aspiration of the group through an inclusive leadership.
Part of the release reads, “Especially Chief (Dr.) Chekwas Okorie, for heeding the call by various tendencies that joined the party for an all-inclusive state working committee, we are happy. Having undertaken this seamless reunification of the State Working Committee, with due respect to Article 21 section 2( C) of the UPP constitution, the NWC has placed the ball on the court of Anambra UPP to champion the cause of a new political order in the state.”
Speaking on the government of Anambra State, under APGA leadership, UPP expressed disappointment that instead of scaling up development and ensuring peace and harmony in the state, Governor Willie Obiano stooped so low to engage in needless brickbats with certain personalities, including Mr. Peter Obi and Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha. It stated: “After the tempestuous years of political banditry by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ndi Anambra looked forward to the continuity of development and peace when Peter Obi imposed Obiano on the state. But rather than concentrate on the task of building Anambra as the leading state in Igbo land, Obiano forgot how he came and took arms against outsiders to the government.”
It said further, “It is because the governor has shown lack of focus and understanding of the basic ingredients that make Anambra State great that the state has continued to manifest despondency and political delinquency, whereby young men who have been denied participation through local government system have taken to online platforms and social networks to pour insults on their elders. This is not what we bargained for; Anambra should be first again by building its young people and providing purposeful leadership to the people.”
THISDAY reached out to the UPP publicity secretary, Uche Amaku over strategies the party intends to employ to unseat APGA as a party for Ndigbo. Amaku told our correspondent that contrary to what people think, APGA has lost its soul. He said the soul of the party left the day its founder, Chief Chekwas Okorie left the party. Though the party said it had not decided on its governorship candidate, it however expressed confident that anyone it elects in a primary election would surely floor Obiano. He said the party also plans to make an impact in other states in the south east as well. According to him, the party will partner ‘ Igbo progressives’ to make a bold statement in the area.
The party said it was confident that it would beat the incumbent governor of Anambra state, Obiano, in the November 18th governorship election in the state as his party “APGA is today a carcass of its old self.”
Amaku said the party was fully mobilized to battle APGA for the 2018 governorship election. He said: “APGA has today been highjacked by people who are not even aware of the mission of the founding fathers of the party. The soul of the party has long left it, what is left of the party today is its carcass. It is true that UPP and APGA were founded by the same leader, Chief Chekwas Okorie, but it is obvious that APGA lost its bearing and focus to serve as a platform for marginalized persons in Nigeria, especially Ndigbo to participate fully in the country’s Democratic system.”
He said APGA is now a political instrument of a few individuals that has failed to serve as its intended purpose of mainstreaming the collective aspiration of Igbos. Speaking on the recent endorsement of the party by the pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Amaku said some members of the group were its members, and they had no problem with that as the group has never been violent. “We are not partnering with them, you cannot partner a political party, rather some of their members are in our party. We are giving them the opportunity to be a part of the democratic system in Nigeria. APGA, which is supposed to be an Igbo party has not demonstrated that it was sympathetic to the Igboman cause. They have derailed from the original reason for the formation of the party,” he said.
With this, the UPP is set to topple APGA as the prefer political party for Ndigbo, and the forthcoming governorship election in the state may be an opportunity for the party to prove itself as it threatens to unseat the incumbent APGA governor, Chief Willie Obiano.