APGA Tottering on the Brink of Collapse

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka

The subsisting leadership crisis within the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is threatening its existence. If the crisis is allowed to fester, the party is likely to disintegrate. Being the only state it controls, if the party fails in Anambra, it is over for it.

The APGA is one of the minor opposition parties in the country. It came into existence in June 2002 and won its major political victory in the 2003 general election when it clinched the Anambra governorship seat.

That victory was stolen by the then-ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He backed the party’s candidate in the election, Dr. Chris Ngige to usurp the position through the instrumentality of the state’s political ‘godfather’ then, Chief Chris Uba. The rest is history.

However, the APGA was not satisfied with the outcome of the election. Led by its candidate, the irrepressible Peter Obi, it went to court to challenge the declaration of Ngige as governor. It was a court battle that lasted till 2006 when the matter was finally decided in favour of the opposition party.

Obi who emerged as the party’s flag bearer ahead of Chief Okey Nwosu, the then PDP national treasurer widely expected to clinch the ticket, was subsequently installed as the duly elected governor of Anambra. Since 2006, the APGA has held sway to the governorship seat in Anambra. Since then, it has also won local government, state and National Assembly elections in states like Benue, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Abia, and Plateau at one election or the other.

However, the five-year leadership tussle appears to have dealt a blow to its reputation in Anambra. Observers believe this development may mar the party’s chances of retaining the state in the 2025 governorship election.

Currently, Chief Edozie Njoku and Sly Ezeokenwa, a lawyer, are at loggerheads over the party’s national chairmanship position. Chief Victor Umeh, who represents Anambra Central at the National Assembly on the Labour Party (LP) platform, had led the APGA for about 12 years before he handed over the reins to his namesake, Dr Victor Oye.

Since then, the party has been destabilised by internal squabbles because of the tussle over its leadership. After Oye was suspended ahead of the 2021 governorship election, Chief Jude Okeke was declared the acting national chairman. This is the genesis of the crisis that has refused to abate.

Since then, APGA chieftains have moved from one court to another, trying to resolve the tussle. The crisis is still lingering; there are no signs of an amicable resolution in sight.

The Supreme Court judgment that ought to have put paid to the crisis did not help matters; it worsened the situation because it did not streamline its position. Njoku has persisted in his claim that Ezeokenwa is not the authentic chairman. The former argues that the latter is merely clinging to the mention of his name in a completely different matter by the Supreme Court.

Njoku believes the Supreme Court has given him the mandate to lead the party. But, to Ezeokenwa, it was an erroneous recognition. Meanwhile, the party suffers and bleeds as the crisis lingers.

Governor Chukwuma Soludo, the APGA national leader, has been under pressure to uphold the Supreme Court judgment that supposedly recognizes Njoku as chairman. For instance, the founding National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, wants Soludo disciplined for failing to uphold Njoku as APGA national chairman. Chekwas, at a press conference, accused the governor of trying to destroy the party.

After a protracted battle, Njoku was finally recognized by the regulatory body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). However, it is not yet Uhuru for the party because Ezeokenwa is not willing to vacate the exalted position. He told The Nation that it is a position that he is lawfully occupying.

He said: “What is rather intriguing is the claim by INEC that its decision was according to an alleged court order. Sadly, INEC is yet to furnish us or even the members of the public with the court order that compelled it to take that decision.”

Citing a Supreme Court letter by the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, Ezeokenwa argues that the court’s ruling on March 24, 2023, did not recognize Njoku as national chairman.

The confusion in the APGA has made it difficult to understand the true position of things. While the majority of its members have faith in the party, supporters of Governor Soludo within the fold continue to believe in the party.

Soludo does not believe that Njoku has the backing of the apex court to lay claim to APGA’s leadership. This position, according to Ezeokenwa, could be attributed to a Certified True Copy (CTC) of a letter written by Justice Ariwoola, dated June 6, 2023, notifying counsel to Njoku that the Supreme Court in its ruling of March 24, 2023, did not recognize Njoku as APGA chairman.

Ezeokenwa said: “We firmly believe that the Supreme Court will speak further to clarify if there was anything in its ruling of March 24, 2023, to be enforced to put to rest the misinterpretation arising from the correction of the accidental slip in its judgment now that the case has found its way back to the Supreme Court, to challenge the Appeal Court ruling of June 28, 2024.

“We therefore call on all our aggrieved members, supporters and Nigerians to remain calm knowing fully well that this is yet another storm in teacup.” Governor Soludo, the chairman of the APGA Board of Trustees (BoT), says the Anambra people seem to have concluded that APGA is the party for them. He said: “It is no longer those years of burning down buildings and turmoil; Anambra is now stable because of the APGA. “That has been the reason for the progress we have witnessed here. The people of Anambra have resolved that the APGA is the party that can develop the state. For instance, under our leadership, the APGA has never been stronger than it is today. You asked this question about the crisis because of what you see in the media about our party. But things like these are normal during the run-up to an election.

“I know someone else is claiming that he is the national chairman and that is through a court order, and I haven’t seen that court order myself. This is just a family problem that will be sorted out soon. Sooner than later everyone will come into the same big tent. I don’t see any division in the APGA.

“I understand the disputants are in court and, hopefully, they will resolve their differences soon and I hope that after that, two of them will come into this tent. The APGA is a movement that has been used for transformations and I can tell you that the party has never been stronger than now.”

The Deputy National Chairman (Southeast) of the Njoku faction, Tony Ezekwelu, believes that Soludo, Ezeokenwa and all the chieftains of the APGA in their group are only burying their head in the sand, like the ostrich, to avoid the reality. He told The Nation that the pronouncement of the apex court had entrusted the leadership of the party to Njoku and not Ezeokenwa.

He said the recent sealing of the party’s office in Awka by Soludo and his camp will spell doom for them when the time comes. He said the governor’s camp is just trying to intimidate and harass the Njoku-led faction with its executive fiat to cow them.

Despite the confusion within the party, both factions have started selling expression of interest forms for elective positions in the forthcoming local government election in the state.

While the Njoku faction has rented a building in Udoka Housing Estate in Awka, the Ezeokenwa faction is occupying the magnificent edifice erected by the former national chairman, Dr. Victor Oye.

The four-story building which also serves as the party’s Southeast zonal headquarters, is situated along the Awka-Enugu expressway before the Nnamdi Azikiwe University school gate. Ezekwelu maintained that since Njoku’s men took over the leadership of the APGA Soludo has not been loyal to the party.

He added that the dire consequences of his action for him and his group would become clearer as the 2025 governorship election draws closer. Ezekwelu added: “Edozie Njoku has come to stay; the best option for our governor right now is to mellow down and realign, otherwise, the next thing that will follow will be regret.”

One of the chieftains of the party, who does not want to be quoted, told The Nation that what is happening within the party is regrettable. He said: “Our once peaceful APGA has become a theatre of the absurd. Some people want to destroy it and some of us know those responsible. But I want to appeal to our governor to be careful in this kind of situation, because any form of slip may spell doom for him particularly.”

The Nation gathered that Soludo and his men are considering shifting base to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as an alternative should it become impossible for him to vie for re-election on the APGA platform. But, one of the government’s appointees, who pleaded anonymity, debunked such a claim, describing it as a ‘pepper soup joint’ rumour.

An activist, Comrade Osita Obi told The Nation that the kind of destructive politics people are playing is alarming. He said: “Those hyping this crisis are people who want to distract the governor because of the 2025 governorship election. But they won’t succeed. The people know what they want because Soludo is repositioning Anambra.” The onus is now on the Supreme Court to resolve the crisis for good. In the meantime, the APGA faces two critical elections in November: the local government election and next year’s governorship election.

While pundits expect the gladiators to present a united front, the opposing camps are plotting to outsmart each other. Each side appears to be resolute on its stand. Soludo is not bothered because he has the option of leaving the APGA. He may opt for the APC or his former party, the PDP. Both parties would gladly accept him because his presence would boost their chances of winning the election.