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By Madu Obi
Awka -The national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Mr. Sly Ezeokenwa has said that the popularity of Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the last election, is because of his performance as an APGA governor.
Addressing journalists in Awka, Ezeokenwa said it is wrong to give Labour Party the glory in Peter Obi who, through APGA manifesto and ideology, came to the limelight by his sterling performance as the governor of Anambra State.
“Labour Party cannot take the glory of APGA. If Labour Party wants to take any glory, it should talk about the former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko and not Peter Obi who was a member of APGA because all those achievements he recorded were when he was in our party", Ezeokenwa said.
He said that efforts were being made to ensure that Peter Obi, who was the first governor produced by the party, as well as APGA pioneer national chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, rejoin the party because that is where they rightly belong.
He added: “Peter Obi attended the APGA Institute of Good Governance of which I am a student now and I tell you he will return to the party.
"I am also in touch with the founding National Chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie. I am going to visit Chief Chekwas Okorie and I have spoken with him to come back to APGA because it is his home and a house he built from the foundation.
“He is like a father and he started this APGA and I told him that he cannot finish building a house and abandon it. Whatever might have been his reasons for leaving us, he will return to APGA and together we shall rebuild the party and win more states"
He said the leadership of the party under his watch will build a political party propelled by young people that cut across all strata of the society.
Ezeokenwa said APGA must leverage on the experience of old people, adding that it is not something anyone can shy away from.
According to him, one problem APGA found out is that there has been consistent neglect and sidelining of young people in the affairs of Nigeria, despite the fact that every leader claims he is concerned abou the future generation.
He said further: "Part of the reason APGA wants to leverage on the Obedient Movement is for what that movement symbolizes. It is not as if we want to be part of the movement, but for the first time, we saw an active interest in the affairs of Nigeria by young people. It was unprecedented.
"There are certain key components of that movement that we are studying and the first was that for the first time, we saw people fueling their vehicles to campaign for somebody they don’t know because they felt that person could offer something. It was a belief fueled by conviction,which was why people channeled their energies into the project.
"It was something that had never happened in the annals of our history and that is why APGA is interested in finding out what fueled it.
"If APGA is able to galvanize the young people to support the party, we will get this country right. We are already having discussions with those that are in the forefront of that movement.
"Many of the people in that movement have clearly stated that they are not members of LP because they merely identified someone they believed in.
"For us is APGA, politics is a matter of strategy. First we must play politics of survival and then expand and consolidate."
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