‘Leave APGA out of Ojukwu private political negotiations’

THE leaders and members of All Progressives Grand Alliance say they have endured for a long time the pain and embarrassment of watching their Presidential Candidate in the 2003 Presidential election, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu drag the name of their great Party into what is clearly his private political negotiations.

According to them, a few months ago, Odumegwu-Ojukwu was widely published to have declared support for the presidential ambition of General Ibrahim Babangida and claimed that he would lead APGA and Ndigbo to work for IBB.

Following that publication, a team of IBB presidential promoters paid him a courtesy call at his Enugu residence where he reiterated his support and claim to lead APGA into the IBB project.

They pointed out that on Monday 20th, September, 2010, most Nigerian newspapers reported a supposedly secret meeting between Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu and IBB including General Babangida’s political henchmen.

In all of these publications, Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu was always referred to as the leader of APGA and Chairman Board of Trustees of the Party.

“The fact of the matter is that the constitution of APGA registered with INEC which also remains the only constitution of the party known to the faction contesting for the leadership of the party, has no provision for the position of the National Leader of the party. It is therefore misleading and outrightly mischievous to refer to anybody as the national leader of APGA.

Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu for all intent and purpose was the Presidential candidate of the party in the 2003 Presidential election. He is neither the de facto nor de jure leader of APGA. Similarly, Article 10 (10) of our party constitution states clearly that the party shall have “a Board of Trustees consisting of at least 24 members of unquestionable integrity drawn from the six zones of the country.

The members of the party’s Board of Trustees are to be appointed by the National Executive Committee of the party and ratified by the Party’s National Convention. Former Presidential candidates are not automatic members of the Board.

The activities leading to the nomination of the party’s Board of Trustees must be monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, after the Commission has been given the mandatory 21 days notice. APGA as a registered political party has no provision for a one-man Board of Trustees as Dim Ojukwu has arrogates to himself.

The unfortunate six year crisis in the party is largely responsible for the party’s inability to inaugurate its Board of Trustees. A check with INEC will confirm this assertion. We have always appealed to the media to support the restoration of internal democracy in our party by discontinuing the unfortunate practice of addressing some members of the party with titles that do not belong to them or that do not exist in the party’s organization.

The regular reference to Chief Victor Umeh who is Dim Ojukwu’s foot soldier in the APGA leadership dispute as the party’s National Chairman is one of the disservice certain sections of the media have continued to render to a hapless party in crisis. We wish to repeat that contrary to media propaganda there is no court of law in this country that ever declared Victor Umeh as National Chairman of APGA.

There is no pending suit in which Chief Umeh is a party that will ever arrive at such conclusive because Umeh has not filed any application to be declared National Chairman of the party. He finds it convenient to sponsor his media propaganda to promote himself as the National Chairman of APGA.

Our consolation is that the present Board of INEC led by Professor Attahiru Jega has been availed with sufficient facts and documentary evidence to arrive at objective opinion and decision on matters that concern the leadership of the party. We are assured that the Commission’s Board will not do anything that will appear confrontational to the courts of the land.

It is pertinent to state that APGA is the first Appellant along with my humble self as the second Appellant in an Appeal pending at the Supreme Court slated for definite hearing on October 7, 2010. This is contrary to the misleading and mischievously orchestrated media propaganda that the Supreme Court had on 12th July 2010, entered judgment against the party and myself and in favour of Victor Umeh and other Respondents.

The apex court in Nigeria known for its unblemished integrity could never have made final pronouncement on an appeal that is yet to be heard. We have already formerly protested to the Supreme Court on these misleading and fraudulent publications. This is one of the reasons why we have continued to plead with the media to assist APGA in resolving its crisis by insisting on the sacredness of facts as is the tradition in the profession of Journalism.

APGA has already written INEC to give notice for the party’s nationwide congresses and primaries for the 2011 elections in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act. We wish therefore to state unequivocally that APGA will field candidates to contest for all elective offices in the 2011 general election including the Presidency of Nigeria.

For somebody who claims to be the leader of a registered political party to declare open support for the Presidential aspirant of a rival political party smacks of anti-party activity. It is this kind of attitude which shows disrespect to the party, its constitution and due process that led Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu to connive with the immediate past Leadership of INEC to sign Governor Peter Obi’s nomination form for the February 6, 2010 governorship election in Anambra State. This singular indiscretion and abuse of due process is one of the cogent and verifiable reasons given by the party in a pre-election suit of Mandamus to substitute Governor Obi with the Party’s preferred candidate. That suit has been slated for hearing on 22nd October 2010. If Governor Obi loses his seat Nigerians should know who to hold responsible.

On a final note, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and late Dr. Michael I. Okpara did not in all their political lives enter into any political negotiations in their personal capacities and neither did they commit their political parties in any compromising manner. In spite of the well known political clouts of these heroes they never at anytime arrogated to themselves the mouthpiece of Ndigbo. We believe that Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu has sufficient political clout to embark on his private political negotiations without dragging APGA along. APGA has suffered so many reverses in the past six years. A registered national political party that made a phenomenal entry into the Nigerian political arena eight years ago and held so much promise has been pummeled into one-corner of one out of the 36 States of Nigeria. This party has been wickedly reduced almost to the status of a kindred organization. Genuine and committed members of the party nationwide are resolutely determined to recover the soul of the party and re-launch it as soon as possible into a massive national movement which has been the original intention of its founding fathers.
Let it be noted that a political party like APGA with a sizeable-block vote secured in the 36 States of Nigeria and Abuja can never under any circumstances be a spectator in major democratic contest like the forthcoming 2011 general election. APGA remains a critical factor in the political equation of this country that can never be ignored. Our internal contradiction will soon be over and we will be on the march again.

Congratulations

It is with great pleasure that the leaders and members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) wish to congratulate you on your ascension to the position of the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR. Your tour of duty as the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) under President Olusegun Obasanjo witnessed the rise of a robust, efficient, effective, firm yet humane State Security Service. The SSS, we must testify was completely re-branded from its erstwhile image of a Gestapo outfit. When you completed your tour of duty and stepped aside, the difference became very clear.

Most Nigerians who appreciate your impressive leadership profile and professional efficiency were pleased when the news made the rounds that you have been recalled to the strategic position of Deputy National Security Adviser to assist the highly revered Gen. Aliyu Gusau Rtd, with whom you had worked closely as Director General SSS.
Following General Gusau’s resignation to pursue his political ambition, the President and Commander-in-Chief made the right choice by elevating you to act in the capacity of National Security Adviser. You are indeed a round peg in a round hole.

We have no doubt in our mind that your loyalty to constituted authority, commitment and devotion to duty and your professional competence shall be brought to bear in this tasking, challenging, strategic and important national assignment.

We shall continue to pray to the Almighty God to endow you with wisdom and protect you in your service to your fatherland.