APGA only remembers Ojukwu during elections, says Obasi

Former national chairman of the party, Senator Victor Umeh, recently led a delegation of APGA officials to Ojukwu’s residence in Enugu where they reconciled with his widow, Bianca and invoked the spirit of the late Biafran leader over the forthcoming Anambra governorship poll.

Obasi, who reacted to the visit in an interview with Sunday Vanguard in Umuahia, alleged that the party’s national chairman, Chief Victor Oye and Umeh have failed to follow Ojukwu’s vision for APGA, but will always visit his residence ahead of every election pretending to love the late leader.

In his words; “APGA only remembers Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu whenever elections are around the corner. Victor Oye and Victor Umeh only remember Ojukwu whenever APGA is about going for election.  It is unfortunate that it is when elections are around the corner that they will remember Ojukwu, and invoke his spirit for the success of the party. It is all pretence, all the saluting of Ojukwu’s picture amounts to deceit. They can’t deceive anyone any longer because Umeh and Oye never loved Ojukwu; they have never identified with his vision for APGA. It is only during elections that they want Ojukwu to rise from the dead and give victory to the party. They should allow Ojukwu’s spirit to rest in peace. Why didn’t they remember Ojukwu’s sacrifice for APGA when they denied his widow, Bianca, the APGA senatorial ticket for Anambra South?

“The delegation led by Umeh to Ojukwu’s purporting to be the national reconciliation committee is also laughable. What makes it to be a party’s national committee when all the members are from the Anambra state chapter of APGA out of the 36 states and FCT chapters? The visit was highly deceitful, APGA members are not happy,  they expected Lady Bianca Ojukwu to blow off the roof top over the visit, but she kept cool considering her position in the party and her position in Igboland. As a mother, she is expected to be hospitable to everyone. However, everybody knows that she isn’t happy with the way APGA is run. As of today, all founding members of the party are up in arms with Oye and Umeh.

“How come these people are the ones parading as APGA national reconciliation committee? These are the same people who caused crises in the state chapters of APGA, especially in the South East zone, trading with party tickets, even handing same to non party members. It is unfortunate that these people that messed up the vision of APGA founding fathers still parade themselves as leaders of the party.

“I don’t need to hold brief for Bianca to know how she feels about their visit to Ojukwu’s house because these are the same people who denied her APGA senatorial ticket. Maybe, they forgot that he is Ojukwu’s widow when she needed the party ticket. This was a ticket that ought to have been handed to her on a platter of gold giving her late husband’s contribution to the party. They deliberately manipulated the primaries against her. Now, election is around the corner, they have returned to Ojukwu’s house with their long caps saluting his picture. This is shameful for a party of APGA’s standard.

“They have continued to play god, running APGA like their private estate. These are the same people who have frustrated every reconciliation effort in APGA and continue to hold the party by the jugular. If you are projecting APGA to be an Igbo party, where is the ‘Igboness’ in APGA since it has all been about Anambra state and their private interest? APGA begins from Umeh’s town, Aguluzigbo and ends with Oye’s village, Amawbia. It is painful that these people have ruined APGA.

“I don’t want to wish away APGA because Prof. Charles Soludo is not a candidate that should lose any election, but APGA has lost its glory long ago. In my state, Ebonyi, you can’t believe that no single person bought APGA form to run for any position in the last election. Anybody telling you otherwise is doing a cover up.

“If you truly want to reconcile APGA, you must set up a national committee composed of not less than one person per state, but the problem is that Oye and the man who brought him to office do not mean well for the party. Oye is a stranger to APGA, this is why he is running the party the way he is doing to the exclusion of APGA founding members.”