BY LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

The member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Victor Afam Ogene, has said that the emergence of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State as the new leader and chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT, of  All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, was an important turning point in the quest to ensure that the Igbo remained relevant in Nigeria’s socio-political equation.

In a statement by his media aide, Mr Edward Dibana yesterday, Ogene noted that over the last decade, Governor Obi had slowly but steadily, through solid personal achievements and deft political engineering, grown to become the most potent voice in promoting Igbo and pan-Nigerian ideals.

“All through his political trajectory, from the strenuous judicial battle to recover his stolen electoral mandate, to the fight against his unlawful impeachment, onto his successful tenure interpretation case, “Governor Obi has so positively impacted on Nigeria’s body of electoral laws, such that it is to his credit that staggered gubernatorial elections in the country has become a fait accompli,” Ogene said.

Ogene, who is also the Deputy Chairman, Media and Public Affairs in the House of Representatives, observed that one of the last public acts and symbolic gesture of raising Governor Obi’s hands by the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, clearly foretold the imminence of  the governor  stepping into the shoes left behind by the erstwhile Igbo leader.

Contending that the Anambra State governor had made enormous sacrifices for the people of the state and Ndigbo at large, including shunning several offers to take over structures of rival political parties at a time when it was convenient to do so, Ogene thanked APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, and members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party, for the honour done to Gov. Obi. “No doubt, this is one development which

the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APGA and all progressive-minded sons and daughters of Igboland would have no hesitation endorsing,” he said.