Crisis: APGA warns primary election manipulators

The All Progressives Grand alliance (APGA) has warned that all officials who subverted the party’s primary election processes in Anambra would be sanctioned.

Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, the Secretary of APGA reconciliation Committee for Anambra, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Sunday.

Obi-Okoye said the party was saddened that officials who were given the responsibility of conducting the exercise took undue advantage of members.

He said the committee headed by Dr Uju Okeke was already making progress in the mandate to ensure that justice was done and that peace returned to APGA.

“Any member of the party who has been involved in a form of criminality in the course of the conduct of the primary elections will definitely be brought to book.

“The party has directed us to make strong recommendations against any member of the party who has been involved any act that has brought the party to public disrepute.

“We are also considering assuaging all grievances within the statutory limitations like how and when to make substitutions if the need arises, what is more important is bringing back peace to the party,” he said.

Obi-Okoye, who is the Special Adviser to Gov. Willie Obiano on Political Matters, however said the crisis was exaggerated with ‘so much noise’ on the internet.

He said APGA conducted lawful primary elections in Anambra, but admitted that the party was overwhelmed by the surge in population of those interested in running on its platform.

He disclosed that 215 aspirants contested the APGA primary election in for Anambra House of Assembly which had 30 seats

“We had about 215 aspirants for 30 State House of Assembly seats in Anambra, what we are doing now is an in-house management of the situation.

“In Aguata 1 Constituency, we had 18 persons contesting for one ticket; in Aguata 2, they were 13; so it was a kind of burden on the party.

“It is on record that in Anambra only APGA conducted primary elections unlike other political parties; we had our challenges in logistics and personnel who were detailed to conduct the exercise.

“There was also the challenge of a large number of aspirants seeking nomination of the APGA.

“The euphoria of 21/21 win in the governorship and 7/7 in the senatorial election, those victories brought in a bandwagon where people joined the party massively.

“I don’t want us to take seriously all that we read in the social media because that is one platform that allows people to express themselves in much unguarded manner.

“If we take the information in social media as the basis for any evaluation we will not get the correct picture of what is happening,” he said.

Obi-Okoye described the crisis as storm in a tea cup as it would not affect the fortune of the party in the general election, saying APGA foundation is strong.

“We have been working and the response we are getting is quite commendable.

“Hopefully in two weeks when we are supposed to round off the assignment, we would have been able to douse a lot of tension and bring back the family spirit we have in APGA.

“The foundation of APGA remains solid and vibrant; as usual we will put our house in order and do well in the elections,” he said.