Convention: APGA chieftains allege imposition of Maku, Oye

Chieftains of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Edozie Njoku and Matthew Ombugaku, have protested against the procedure adopted by the party to elect its new national leaders.
APGA on June 6, held a National Convention in Awka and elected new leaders to take over from Chief Victor Umeh-led executive.
The election, which was by voice vote to confirm the single candidates cleared for each position, produced Chief Ikechukwu Oye as Chairman and Mr Labaran Maku as Secretary, among others.
The politicians who briefed newsmen in Awka on Sunday, however, expressed their discontentment with the sudden zoning arrangement.
Njoku said he had campaigned across the country for the chairmanship position but was surprised to hear that a zoning arrangement had ceded the position to Anambra, four days to the convention.
The politician from Imo State, who contested the position in 2006, frowned at those who wanted to scuttle the convention through the court.
“To me, that election is a sham, how could they bring a list of single candidate for all positions and ask people to endorse it.
I have been across the length and breadth of this country selling my candidature for the position of chairman. And just four days to the election, they informed us of a Kangaroo zoning formula,” he said.
Njoku questioned the reason behind the handover of chairman from Anambra to another chairman from the same state after eight years in a party that famed itself as an Igbo or South-East rooted party.
He also said candidates for the two positions zoned to Imo were foisted on them.
“Some of us are beginning to wonder if APGA is for the Igbo or only for Anambra. We thought the leadership should go elsewhere; even the Woman Leader and Legal Adviser zoned to Imo were imposed on us. APGA should have learnt from the lack of internal democracy that blew up the chances of PDP.
“Most party people are not happy with the manner in which that election was conducted. Our founding father like Chekwas Okorie had a vision for APGA, but the vision has been abused”, he said.
On his part, Ombugaku, former APGA Board of Trustees member from Nasarawa State, said the election was not properly conducted.
Ombugaku said he had laboured to build the party in the state and had sacrificed a lot but was surprised that nothing differentiated APGA from other parties.
The former APGA governorship candidate in Nasarawa, said the party was a national party and should not be run like a private enterprise.
He said popular consent added credibility to any process.
“To me, the process was not proper, we wanted to see democracy in action but another affirmation process is rather unfortunate, I built and nurtured APGA in Nasarawa, I won the gubernatorial primaries and it was given to someone else.
“I am a member of the BOT and as I am talking to the media now, my name has been removed and nobody said anything to me. No input was made by most of us in Nasarawa before the elections, but we are still around to see things work in this party.
“APGA has the opportunity now to become a great national party in the mould of APC and PDP but certainly not on this road we unfortunately found ourselves”, Ombugaku said.
The outgoing Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, described Saturday’s election as a smooth transition, pointing out that the team that emerged did not only enjoy national support, but was worthy successors.
The new APGA leadership is expected to assume office on June 10, at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.