By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Activist lawyer and politician, Maxi Okwu was one of the founders of the All Progressive Grand

Alliance, APGA but was edged out in the power tussle that rocked the party in its early days. Upon his exit he helped in founding the Citizens Peoples Party, CPP.  Okwu who for some years ran the CPP has, however, lately re-emerged to claim leadership of APGA having been elected national chairman in a controversial national convention last month. In a session with newsmen in Lagos, Okwu asserts his claim to the party’s top office and why his rival for the office of national chairman and his friend in his own words, Chief Victor Umeh, would not let go. Excerpts:

After the court judgment at the Court of Appeal you issued a statement that you would respect the judgment restoring Umeh as national chairman. So, why are you still laying claim to the office?

Umeh did not win any appeal as people were wrongly made to believe. What he got in the appeal was a stay of one of the four orders by the Court of Appeal. Out of the four orders the Enugu State High Court made, only one was stayed. The stay was that aspect that restrained him from parading himself as the chairman of our party.

The court said once a matter is declaratory, we can not stay it. Every lawyer knows that you don’t stay what has been done. The deed had been done already, judgement has been executed by the NEC of the party which convened a convention in Awka and elected its national officers. I said clearly, Umeh’s activities against the party are exercises in futility.

One of such Umeh’s activities is the Federal High Court midnight exparte-order restraining me and my executive officers from parading ourselves as such.  Yes! I said it that time I will respect direct order on me by the Federal High Court, Awka. I have done that already.

Why did you bring forward the convention date as against the earlier chosen date?

That is not true. The notice to INEC from the party was 8th of April. You should understand that INEC doesn’t work on sentiment. A party must put everything on paper before INEC, which we did. The only shift we made was the venue from Enugu to Awka. INEC was given adequate notice by our party.

*Okwu: Chief Umeh is now like a bull in a china shop

We gave 21 days notice. That’s what the electoral guideline says.  We gave INEC the date and time The only change was from Enugu to Awka. Normally if you want to hold a convention, you should conduct proper accreditation. We did this before we went for the election proper. And I won at the end of the counting of votes.

How do you see the future of the party given Governor Rochas Okorocha’s decision to abandon APGA for APC?

Our party has issued a statement in this regard and we urged Governor Rochas Okorocha to rethink. Actually, we see his challenges and dilemma but we are saying he should take it calmly. APC is not a registered party; this is a fact as at present. Okorocha is gambling on a quantity that may collapse.

I wish APC well but it’s obvious it is not yet in a bag. It is still in the offing. It has not been registered by INEC. For Okorocha to jettison a party that gave him the platform he used to become a governor and start to gamble with an association is worrisome, we advise him to rethink.

Position of governor of a state is not a small thing. We would not  be talking of sanctioning or disciplining him. We’ll wait and see whether sanity will prevail through diplomacy and behind the scene discussion. But, at the end of the day, he would decide. His issue will become a legal thing if APC is finally registered and Okorocha collects APC card.

For now, by position of law, he is still a card carrying member of APGA. Politically, APGA was there before Okorocha become a governor and the party will continue to exist after him. Rochas has been with other parties in the country before he used the APGA platform. He owes this party a lot. There is a moral burden for him to carry at this juncture.

With the Anambra gubernatorial election approaching do you see it as a concern to forge unity towards making a good showing?

I have been trying my best to bring every aggrieved member back to the fold of the party. A political party can not isolate itself from crises. As we sit here today, there are various internal crises in PDP which are even worse than what we have in APGA. What we suddenly realised in our party is that Chief Umeh is now like a bull in a china shop.

From his approach of things and activities, he likes to destroy APGA rather than to allow the house to stand. We will not allow that to happen. We are going to ease him out. If a 26 member NEC that he led has left him except two or three of his cronies, he should have seen the hand writing on the wall and resign.

In a much more civilised society, Chief Umeh should have resigned honourably without being asked to quit. Be that as it may, I have extended a hand of fellowship to him thrice. I recalled I did that at the convention venue, later at the Town Hall meeting in Abuja and before the Abuja meeting. I have said it times without number that I will give him soft landing but he has refused to accept my hands of fellowship.

Instead, he has been fighting harder. There is a limit which you can push a horse to drink. I’ve extended hand of friendship to him only he just wants to be the clog in the wheel of progress of the party. So, we know what is happening particularly when Umeh and his followers have one leg in the APC arrangement.

As I am speaking to you, Chief Umeh is the Director of Publicity of C21 group founded by Rochas Okorocha. All of them are in APC. For instance, have you ever heard the likes of Umeh condemn Okorocha’s romance with the yet to be registered APC sponsors?

Again, when Umeh got the

court order against the party, we all saw Okorocha embrace him. They are working hand in glove. Umeh played active role in negotiating formation of APC.

Our party is not involved in that  association. This is the fact.  We will not sit down either and fold our arms. Immediately we sort out the main legal issues before us which we believe should be over latest by two weeks from now, we’ll roll out action for the elections like the council election and governorship election in Anambra State.

In your own view. What do you think is energising him?

I am aware that Umeh has tasted power for long, being chairman of APGA. He was empowered by the party’s constitution. I am also aware that a fat pocket is giving him a full backing. So, there’s a lot at stake being the chairman of a strong party like APGA. For instance, I was once chairman of Citizens Peoples Party between 2005 and 2012.

Then, nobody reckoned with me at that time….(Laughter) but now that I became Chairman APGA, a party that can boast of having a serving governor and members of National Assembly, everybody is coming to me.  I receive more calls now as National  Chairman APGA unlike when I was the National Chairman CPP. So, you can see why Umeh was fighting tooth and nail to remain the party’s national chairman.

Chief Umeh has said he was elected for four year tenure and that his time is yet to lapse. What’s the basis for your moving against him?

People have forgotten that Umeh started as Acting National Chairman of the party since December 2004. Now we are in 2013.

Expiration of tenure

He has been parading himself as APGA Chairman for almost nine years. There was a time he took Chekwas to court when Chekwas said he won’t stay beyond eight years. The basic fact is that Umeh has been APGA’s Chairman for nine years uninterrupted and he still wants to continue in that position.

If his tenure is four years that is renewable, by January 2007 when the convention that the court nullified was held, Umeh’s tenure has expired. The court had said so. On 2nd December, his tenure has expired. The court said he has no capacity by January 2011 to hold convention. The convention he coordinated in 2011 was nothing but illegal. That’s the fact of the whole issue. He has stayed beyond his tenure.

Normally before your tenure expires as chairman, you need to conduct fresh election but he did not do so because he cares to remain as APGA Chairman forever. So, it is not a personal thing. There are rules of engagement in democracy.

You finish your first four year tenure and go back to the party for a fresh mandate of another four year term – end of story. The fact is that Umeh wanted to be APGA Chairman forever simply because of the benefits that are accrued to him.