APGA: Umeh's Faction Restates Stand against Political Parties’ Merger

APGA: Umeh's Faction Restates Stand against Political Parties’ Merger

16 Apr 2013

• INEC must investigate Obi, says Ezugwu

By Segun Awofadeji in   Bauchi

The Victor Umeh-led All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has reiterated its stand that it will not merge with any political party in the country ahead of the 2015 general election.

The party  National Secretary, Dr. Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi told journalists in Bauchi at the weekend that the party would not lose its identity to merge with any political party, adding that it will field a presidential candidate for the 2015 elections.

“On the issue of merger, we have been saying it times without number that APGA has not joined merger with any political party. APGA will field a presidential candidate in the 2015 general election, APGA is not in All Progressive Congress (APC)” Shinkafi stated.
Shinkafi, who was in Bauchi to condole the family of the state APGA chairman, Alhaji Danjuma Musa, said however that Governor Rochas Okorochas of Imo State had in his individual capacity joined the merger bandwagon.

He added, “So what we are trying to tell you is that we are not part of the merger, we will retain our identity as APGA, but we will hold talks with any progressively-minded political party to go into alliance.”
He further explained that APGA as a political party in line with the Electoral Act as amended would not lose or surrender its identity to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to go into merger with three other political parties.

Shinkafi, who also said APGA would deal decisively with any erring member of the party especially those that opted for the merger, stressed that punishments relating to such offences being committed by members were clearly spelt out in the constitution of the party.
“So nobody is above the law, nobody is above the constitution of the party and the party has supremacy over any individual or a governor, even (PDP) is bigger than Jonathan, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is bigger than Tinubu, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is bigger than Buhari,” he said.

Shinkafi decried a situation whereby governors of the PDP are ganging against the National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, and are even calling for his removal.
He recalled that the recent Court of Appeal judgment that upheld the Victor Umeh-led national leadership of APGA was a clear manifestation that the party was supreme over its members.

Shinkafi similarly expressed dissatisfaction over the way and manner the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, tried to sell APGA to the PDP, describing him as insincere person who has one leg each in both APGA and the PDP.
The APGA scribe further alleged that the adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan by the party in the 2011 elections without any monetary condition or otherwise had fetched personal benefits to Obi and his tribe.

“After the election was fought and won, Jonathan gave three ambassadorial nominees to APGA, one Special Adviser, 28 other political appointments, all these were carried away by Obi, all those positions were given to Igbos, none was given to Hausa, South-south, South-west, nobody from these parts of the country was appointed a cleaner,” he said.
He opined that if Jonathan wanted to relate with APGA, let him relate with the party not an individual as Obi is saying bye-bye to his tenure which expires on March 17, 2014.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of APGA and the Secretary General of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Chief Willy Ezugwu, has called on the INEC to as a matter of urgency investigate the Obi-led national convention of the party conducted last Monday.
Ezugwu made the call in Enugu yesterday while describing the convention as an eyesore, adding that he was still confused at the role INEC played in monitoring the proceedings at an unholy time of 1a.m.

“We are calling on INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to investigate the fraudulent conduct of the convention purported by Obi and also the authorisation of the INEC personnel that monitored the proceedings of the 1 a.m. to 7a.m. during last Monday’s convention
“How did INEC itself got entangled in this because I doubt if Jega himself was given adequate notice of information to be part of such a deal to monitor a convention at that unholy time or is INEC no longer a public institution?” he asked.

Ezugwu also wondered why Obi should applaud the illegal convention and while his cohorts should discredit the Court of Appeal ruling where three judges gave a ruling for stay of execution and ordering the reinstatement of the national chairman and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
“I do not see any reason why Obi should support such an illegal convention by applauding it and his aide, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr Joemartins Uzodike, disregarding the Monday Appeal Court judgment by describing it as "judgment in futility."

He also called on the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Abubakar, to investigate the 24 impostors claiming to be state party chairmen of APGA that signed the notice of the congresses and convention, citing a similar case which is now pending in court where Sadiq Massala claimed he had the mandate of 20  NWC members to remove Chief Victor Umeh from office but INEC later discovered the 11 of the so-called signatories were impostors.

He asked Obi and his lieutenants to desist from destroying the party which they all laboured to build.
“Obi and his cohorts must refrain from destroying APGA and disobeying court judgments since he himself was a beneficiary of the same court judgments,” he said.