By OKOLIE UCHENNA

THE President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), once used the above caption to describe the socio-political and economic circumstances of SouthEasterners, nay Ndigbo. This situation perhaps aptly captures the political circumstances of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in the political firmament of the present.

The desires and aspirations of the founders of APGA were neither a regional party nor a local or state party to be so ingloriously defined and characterised. The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, was officially registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on June 22, 2002, with Chief Chekwas Okorie as the founder and pioneer national chairman of the party.

The fundamental objectives of APGA were to found a truly progressive national political party in character and outlook that would principally address, promote, and protect the welfare and interests of Nigeria’s diverse ethnic nationalities. APGA held so much hope, promise, and prospects in Nigeria’s democratic space from the onset. The party’s first participation in a general election in Nigeria in 2003 was phenomenal, in spite of the massive manipulation of the electoral process that year by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government.

APGA came in third out of the 30 political parties that participated in that election. APGA’s exceptional performance saw the party form government in Anambra State. It also won three federal constituency seats in Anambra, Imo, and Bayelsa states, as well as numerous state assembly seats across the country. With this impressive outing, APGA was positioned and poised to consolidate its gains and record substantial victories in subsequent elections.

Again, to expedite the permeation and quick geographical spread of APGA across the length and breath of Nigeria, it was necessary to leverage the statistical demographic structure of Nigeria, with more southern citizens, especially south easterners, who live and form the highest non-indigene population outside the indigenous aboriginal population. These, among numerous others, were part of the strength and selling points of APGA. Unfortunately and regrettably, this original intention of the founders and pioneer leaders of APGA was derailed. Subsequent leaders, out of cluelessness or sheer incompetence, lost focus on the nationalistic concepts of APGA only to focus on a particular privileged state (Anambra) to the exclusion and abandonment of the rest of the 35 states of the federation and Abuja.

Ironically, a once vibrant, dynamic, and focused party, out of political myopia, lost it all to nepotism and clanishness. Today, a once politically robust and boisterous APGA is now seen and regarded as a dot in a circle – a state party. Thanks to bad leadership. In the days ahead, precisely on June 22, APGA will be 21 years old. It is instructive to note that in the 21- year life of APGA, the national chairmanship and leadership of APGA have remained in this aphorism of “dot in a circle” in Anambra State for 19 years.

The pioneer National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie’s regime, only lasted for about two years before he was booted out and replaced by Chief Victor Umeh (Anambra State) and then Dr. Victor Ike Oye (Anambra State)…what an unfortunate trajectory. It took the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, of Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu less than 10 years to capture the entire Southwest States and, by extension, Edo State. In 2013, the political astuteness and sagacity of the ACN enabled them to leverage this feat to form a political alliance with other political parties with the sole motive of chasing away the PDP government and capturing power at the centre.

This was executed, albeit seamlessly and successfully, with the ACN emerging as the dominant party. The dividends of those arrangements gave birth to the “Emilokan” concepts/mantra and saw power at the centre return to the Southwest after having them occupy the presidency from 1999–2007, then vice president from 2015–2023. This deft and sagacious political concept was conceptualised and developed by the founding fathers of APGA for implementation.

The whole idea was to first awaken the political consciousness of the people of the south scattered all over the country, especially the south-easterners, and galvanize and rally them under a political umbrella for the purposes of engendering socio-political integration. Our founding fathers also intended to use the APGA political platform to encircle the five southern states for the purposes of negotiating power at the centre. It is disheartening that these properly conceived ideas were aborted at birth, leaving the ACN to grab them and run with them for implementation in the Southwest geopolitical region.

Today, the Southwest is the greatest beneficiary of a political ideology, conceived and developed by APGA for the benefit of the Southeast region but that could not be implemented in the region because of ethno-political jingoism. Little wonder, APGA has not been able to rise above one state (Anambra). With the 2023 APGA national convention fast approaching, would the national leader of APGA, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, allow the principles of rotation and power shift to be implemented as enshrined in the APGA constitution?

Or will he resort to political armtwisting and the arbitrariness of executive power to further emasculate other organs of our dear party, APGA, to recapture, kidnap, and retain in Anambra custody, the office of the national chairman and at the same time keep in perpetuity in Anambra State, the position and office of the national leader by virtue of his position and status as the only APGA governor?

If he does so, he will be giving credence to the ignoble mantra of “dot in a circle,” which APGA has been dubbed. This might be the last straw that will kill and bury APGA. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. The Nigerian political space is watching. The APGA 2023 convention beckons Prof. Soludo to prove his liberal leadership and democratic credentials. 

•Dr. Uchenna, a social commentator, wrote from Isele Ukuu, Delta State.