By Vincent Ujumadu
There was jubilation in Igbo land when a group of people formed the All  Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and facilitated its registration with the Independent  National Electoral Commission, INEC. The party did not make much impact in the polity until it became the party in power in Anambra State through Mr. Peter Obi in 2006.

From Right: National chairman of APGA Chief Victor Oye, Governor of Anambra State Chief Willie Obiano, and Deputy Governor, Dr Nkem Okeke.

The expectation was that having formed the government in Anambra, APGA would spread to other parts of the South East geopolitical zone and ultimately to other parts of the country. But subsequent events in the party were not very palatable to its followers as it has continued to lose ground.

With the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as the leader of APGA, the party was a household name in the country, although its popularity could not translate to votes beyond Anambra State.Even with Ojukwu as the presidential candidate of APGA, it was still unable to make much impact.

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/03/march-9-suspension-of-amosun-okorocha-will-not-affect-our-victory-apc/

Former national chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh did everything humanly possible to move the party beyond Anambra by bringing in Alhaji Sani Shinkafi from Zamfara State as the national secretary. As the national chairman, Umeh worked well with Obi up to a certain stage and it was under him that a governor in Anambra State won election back to back.

There was, however, a sour taste in their relationship during the second tenure of Obi as opposition was mounted against Umeh by some of Obi’s allies to leave office. Though Chief Maxi Okwu was brought in to replace Umeh with the support of state government during a controversial national convention in Awka, Umeh later survived the onslaught and regained his position.

He was still in office when Obi’s tenure ended and despite the party’s constitutional amendment making the governor the chairman of Board of Trustees, Obi resigned from APGA and defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the feeling among members and supporters of APGA was that Obi left with the soul of the party.    Governor Willie Obiano, who succeeded Obi in office, became chairman of the BoT of the party as provided in the party constitution, but growth of the party has been very slow under his watch.

When Umeh’s tenure ended, Chief Victor Oye, who is also from Anambra, same as Umeh, became the national chairman and during this time, the party was able to win some seats outside Anambra State. With Obiano as chairman of Board of Trustees, the expectation was that APGA would grow beyond the confines of Anambra State, but it never did.

In 2015, however, the party made a little inroad in some states, including Bayelsa, Taraba, Niger and FCT where it won seats. It also formed the government in Imo State when Owelle Rochas Okorocha was elected on its platform and almost formed the government in Abia State when Dr. Alex Oti believed to have won the election, was denied the mandate. In Nasarawa, the former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku made a great impact in the governorship election that year and it was generally believed that he was robbed    the seat.

Also in 2015, Mrs. Chris Anyanwu from Imo State became the first APGA senator and Chief Victor Umeh was to become the second senator produced by the party.

During the primaries for the 2019 general elections, the enthusiasm with which aspirants in many states developed interest in APGA gave a ray of hope to its members that the party was truly wearing a national face. However, the acrimonies that trailed the primaries became somewhat difficult for the leaders of the party to manage, particularly in Anambra and Imo states.    The development created so much bad blood in the party such that many members defected to other political parties for the purpose of contesting the 2019 election.

In spite of the fact that APGA had a presidential candidate in the person of Major General John Gbor (rtd) from Benue State as its candidate, members of the party did not campaign for him as expected. It became embarrassing that rather than campaign for his presidential candidate, Obiano hardly mentioned his name during campaigns because he was allegedly supporting President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress, APC. And during the 2019 presidential and national assembly election proper, the electorate in the state preferred to support Obi, the vice presidential candidate of PDP, apparently out of anger against Obiano.

In fact, when Obi told the electorate in Anambra State to vote for PDP all through so he could work with them if he became the vice president, most people did because the national assembly candidates of PDP who ought not to win the election because of their antecedents and unpopularity, enjoyed the Peter Obi popularity and won in their constituencies.

The allegation among APGA supporters is that Obiano is not doing much to sustain the gains made by the party in the past and there are also fears that what happened during the presidential and national assembly election might repeat during the House of Assembly election on Saturday, going by the disharmony that has crept into APGA.

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/03/warri-fed-constituency-reyenieju-rejects-results/

Already, fear has gripped    House of Assembly candidates in the state as many voters are threatening to transfer their anger of PDP’s presidential loss on APGA during the March poll. Will the electorate, as kings they are, carry out the threat? Everybody is waiting to see, especially with the independent nature of typical Anambra voters who, while most states were struggling to identify with federal government –controlled political party, had stuck to APGA since 2003. They first voted Obi into power, but    he had to wait for three years before reclaiming his mandate through the court.