Following the smooth transition in Anambra State from one government to another on March 17, 2014 which brought aboard the administration of His Excellency, Gov. Willie Maduabuchi Obiano, the Akpokuedike Aguleri, it has become fashionable for all manner of individuals – those who did all in their power to ensure that he did not emerge inclusive, to turn themselves into His Excellency’s ‘defenders’-in-chief’.
More than genuine admirers of the ace banker turned governor, some such individuals are always the first to purchase spaces in the media to either felicitate or pay lip service to his every action or celebration. In their quest to gain one form of patronage or the other, they attack all sensible advice and criticize every innocuous critique of His Excellency’s action[s]. They are quick to accuse volunteers of dissenting opinion of bad faith - even when the basis for such dissent is evidently manifest. They do all these to mask their initial hostility towards His Excellency’s aspiration ab-initio while hoping that history would not expose their antics.
These classes of individuals are the real enemies of the new government and Anambra people at large. Those are individuals whose conduct and counsel Obiano MUST be wary of; and they abound within and outside his government at the moment. I have personally heard some of them openly and recklessly quip: “Obi’s time is over; he has left with his friends. Now is Obiano’s time and whoever presently works with him is the one that will attract the loyalty of APGA faithful in the respective councils”.
Something tells me this is exactly the kind of warped impression they attempt daily to create in the mind of His Excellency. And that would be a pity really because the impression is hell wrong. While the first part is absolutely correct, the latter is far from the situation on ground in most local governments. That erroneous impression being bandied about by individuals perceived at best as ‘URBAN GORILLAS’ by an ever suspicious grassroots that is slow to accepting new comers into the party – no matter how highly placed, is what has been responsible for the divisions that is threatening internal cohesion in our party today.
I am of the candid opinion that the earlier government operatives who talk before they reason, and who go about peddling such sentiment are called to order, the better things will turn out for all interests within the party. The new administration must in its interest obliterate divisive tendencies capable of creating avoidable trouble that may stall smooth operation or amass animosity from a segment of the party.
The desirability of the above is reinforced by the stark fact that most of the appointees at the head of this unnecessary distraction are neither on ground nor popular in their respective constituencies. It may not be entirely wrong to describe some of them as ‘opportunists’ who secured appointments not based on merit but on the strength of relationships and/or connections. I personally know a serving Commissioner who loathed everything APGA prior to our hard won victory in the November 2013 governorship election. Before then, the said Commissioner criticizes the party and ex-governor Peter Obi’s every move at every opportunity but pretends otherwise each time he comes face-to-face with the former governor at public functions.
The huge turn-out that continues to greet His Excellency’s ongoing ‘Thank you’ tour in the various councils’ and the massive but expected attendance recorded at the recent ‘Join Jonathan Journey rally in Awka notwithstanding, my candid assessment is that all is not well with our party. Not with the level of arbitrary dissolution of elected party organs in some states and the questionable attempts by some state chapter chairmen to remove elected state and local government party officers whose tenure are still subsisting – even in our own Anambra, as we have witnessed recently. These are clear manifestations of the level of distrust that has hit our beloved APGA and which do not augur well for our prospects in 2015.
Therefore, true reconciliation and ensuring that the right thing is done with respect to who gets our party’s nomination for the 2015 governorship election, vis-a-vis other sensitive positions for Imo and Abia states are the way to go if we truly desire to broaden our electoral success. In the same spirit, those who were arbitrarily relieved of their offices in circumstances deemed queer and who have not manifestly engaged in glaring anti-party activities should be recalled without further delay to avert God’s wrath.
Specifically, I make bold to argue that if our indefatigable National Chairman, Chief, Sir Victor Umeh [Ogbunigwe, Ohamadike – Dikedigboo] is to benefit [and rightly as it appears] from automatic ticket, it is also important that Ochudo Martin Agbaso, who solidly stood by him at the thick of the struggle, benefits as well. APGA, as a party, must resist the temptation of creating the impression in the minds of party faithful that diligence and loyalty to the party does not pay – especially where it has longstanding core members who possess the quality and an even greater capacity to deliver if granted nomination. Frittering away our tickets to new comers who lack grassroots appeal may not take us too far considering that what we are approaching is a federal election; not council poll that will be conducted by State Independent Electoral Commissions.
I make the above input drawing from my experiences as APGA’s LG Collation Agent for all elections over the past 8 years in my home council, Ekwusigo, including Obi’s re-election in 2010 and Obiano’s election in 2013 – excepting the last January 11 LG poll.
Finally, to those who have made it a point of duty to monitor my contributions in the media with a view, as they have confided in some of my close allies, to employing any iota of ‘anti-government sentiment’ they may find to portray me in bad light before His Excellency in future should government decide to patronize me in any form, the only message I have for you is: The essence of my foray into politics in the first place was, and is still not to gain appointment. And let me emphatically add, I will have no difficulty sacrificing prospects of political appointment and/or patronage on the altar of doing or standing by what is right and appropriate at every turn. I have done so on two occasions before now and will do it again should the need arise. Core APGA stakeholders in the council will bear testimony to those sacrifices. Not even my long-standing aspiration to seek to represent my federal constituency in 2019, a time I consider feasible for aspirants from Ekwusigo to contest, will stand in the way.
Put succinctly, I care less and will do anything to uphold truth at all times – even if so doing will weigh against my chances in future.
Mr. Nwosu, a political activist and publisher writes from Ozubulu, Headquarters of Ekwusigo Council.
