Obinna Odogwu, Awka
National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Tex Okechukwu, a lawyer, has said that there are no aggrieved persons in his party.
He said that opposition parties are sponsoring those he tagged propagandists to destabilise APGA by laying claim to the national chairmanship position of the party.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, the party’s spokesman, Okechukwu, said that the authentic National Chairman of APGA is Dr Victor Ike Oye whom he also described as APGA’s field marshal. He also spoke on other national issues. Excerpts:
What is the future of APGA after COVID-19 in view of the 2021 governorship election in Anambra State?
From the look of things, COVID-19 will last beyond 2021, but there are measures now to do everything we are supposed to do to carry on with our activities like face masking and social distancing. So, I don’t think that will deter the election. There are some countries that conducted their election upon the way this COVID-19 is ravaging their place; they conducted it. So, I want to believe that this Coronavirus will not stop the election from taking place. APGA is going to triumph in the election.
So, what steps would the party be taking as part of preparations for it? Anambra State government is currently being controlled by APGA…?
(Cuts in) You can see that APGA government has established isolation and quarantine centres and again people are advised to keep social distancing and mask themselves. Besides, palliatives are given to people, particularly the less privileged people. They are given food items and even cash in the communities in Anambra State. So, APGA-led government is doing very well in trying to provide for the less privileged in this lockdown. And so many other arrangements have been made by APGA to make sure that things are going on fine. They have eased the lockdown in some areas except for the Main Market, which is very likely to start on Monday.
We learnt that APGA is battling some challenges. What effort is the party making to appease the aggrieved members of the party?
There is no aggrieved person in APGA. Those people are propagandists. Nobody is aggrieved in our party. Our party is a very calm party with harmony; they are bonded. As a party we work together. There are disgruntled elements who left APGA for other parties. Probably, they were rejected by the same party they went to; the man came back to start creating confusion. They are no more members of APGA. So, we don’t have problem in APGA.
What would you then make of the legal battle between two eminent personalities, Dr Victor Oye and Chief Edozie Njoku, who are both laying claims to the national chairmanship position of APGA?
Let me tell you. There is only one National Chairman of APGA, which is Sir Victor Ike Oye (Ozonkpu). There is no other, like this one that said that he is the acting chairman, Mike Adams, and the rest of them. People spring up here and there. Like I told you earlier, there are people who left APGA and they are no more members of the party. They go and create an erroneous impression that they are the chairmen of APGA. None of them is recognized by INEC. APGA has only one national chairman recognized by the INEC chairman, Alhaji Mahmood. National chairman of APGA was duly elected by the congress of 2019; that was last year, May 31 at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre. There is no other national chairman. They are not relevant. They don’t have any position. The other one is not the acting national chairman. Even the court at Kwale gave decision on the 23rd of this month (April); Mike Adams is trying to challenge it, saying that he wasn’t present in the court the day judgment was given. That was a very unfortunate thing. As a lawyer he should have known that his presence will not change the situation or decision of the court on delivery of judgment except in criminal matters. So, this is a civil matter and the ruling is final. Let me reiterate this; the only national chairman we have in APGA is Victor Ike Oye and no other person.
We read that Ike Oye withdrew a suit he filed against Chief Edozie Njoku. He had asked the court to bar Njoku from parading himself as the national chairman of APGA. What would you then make of the suit withdrawal considering the opinion you hold on the matter?
When the matter has been decided that Edozie Njoku is not the chairman, it was unnecessary to continue with the suit. The matter has been settled. There was no need to continue with an irrelevant suit.
As you can see, Coronavirus is ravaging everywhere in the world and Nigeria is not spared. Are you impressed with the way the Nigerian government is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic?
We have to give kudos to the Nigerian government because it is doing the right thing. You can see the Federal Government, the steps it is taking to fight the virus. This virus does not have any cure. Nobody knows how it comes and how it goes. The truth is that there is no vaccine or treatment for it. So, I think the Federal Government is doing very well by providing isolation centres, testing materials and all that. They are even providing palliatives for the less privileged people in the society. So, they are doing very well. I will give kudos to President Buhari.
President Buhari approved gradual ease of lockdown in Lagos, Ogun, and the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], Abuja. Some critics have criticized that move saying that it may give rise to more cases of COVID-19. Do you support that move by the president or do you think he should have extended the lockdown?
If you look at the way things are going, you can’t keep on the lockdown because the Federal Government is finding it difficult to provide for the people at home just like in overseas. And you can’t keep people in the house. If you keep them for too long, there might be mass protest. And if that comes up, that would be anarchy. A lot of deaths might occur. So, I appreciate the ease of lockdown. And as far as they are taking care of themselves like social distancing, masking, washing of hands and all that; if they apply all the rules, I think it will be beneficial to Nigerians as a whole. The provisions of palliatives are not quite going round. It is a lot of challenge. People are hungry.
Critics say that with the way things are going in Anambra State, APGA may lose the 2021 governorship election in the state. They said that Obiano has not impressed them since he came on board. Do you see your party, APGA, losing that election?
I earlier told you that no other party in the state has structures. You can’t win election without a structure. So, the only structured party in Anambra State is APGA. And every other party is just hovering around, raising propaganda here and there, laying false claims and all that. APGA is on ground and everybody is APGA. Forget about those they will give some financial encouragement to blast what they don’t know or have proper information about. APGA is winning the whole local governments, 21/21, in the next election. APGA cannot lose Anambra State. It is not possible. The national chairman was responsible for the 21/21 winning in the last governorship election in Anambra State and as the field marshal of APGA, he will repeat it in the 2021 governorship election in the state.