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…as Obiano’s aide wants party saved from extinction
Raymond Ozoji, Awka
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) seems unrelenting in its efforts to reconcile all differences within the party especially as it concerns the just concluded primary elections of the party across the country.
The party apparently remorseful over the conduct of the primaries, has also shown its readiness to atone for the sins committed against aggrieved members of the party.
This was made known at a meeting held in Awka where the reconciliation committee addressed political appointees in the state and stressed the dire need for the political office holders to penetrate the ward levels to pursue the reconciliation mission to put the party in good stead for the 2019 general elections.
Speaking at the meeting, Chief of Staff to the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Primus Ugochukwu Odili, said the meeting was convened to reiterate to the appointees that they have only one political party and the onus is on them to exhibit unflinching loyalty to the party as well as ensure that they saved the party from extinction.
Odili explained that while addressing the government functionaries, he tried to recall the just concluded primary elections of the APGA that was allegedly distorted but equally admonished them to go beyond party politics to know that Ndigbo must define their position in the polity called Nigeria.
The Chief of Staff emphasized that they would not get it right if they continued to jump from one political party to the other without a clear vision, stressing that Anambra had defined its political structure as an APGA state.
He said other opposition parties were currently calling APGA for negotiations but according to him, APGA owns Anambra state and it’s not prepared to negotiate its vantage position with any other political party in the state.
Odili however opined that until Ndigbo redefined their position in the country, they would not have a stake in federal politics, pointing out that the meeting with all political appointees in the state was organized to remind them of the need to rejuvenate the party at the grassroots and their respective political wards to ensure that no stone was left unturned to prepare the party for next year’s general elections.
Meanwhile, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, the Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on Indigenous Medicine and Herbal Practices, said it was a reconciliation meeting saying that it was natural for primary elections to breed resentments and aggression, but every political party worth its salt would carry everybody along and sue for peace and reconciliation.
Ibezim maintained that nothing was irreconcilable and APGA as a political party was handling its affairs discreetly so as to indulge all and sundry, stressing that victory for APGA was victory for the entire Igbo nation.
On his part, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Inter-Party Affairs cum Political Matters, Hon. Ben Obi, said the intent was for aggrieved members of the party to come back to the party to enable it to forge ahead because of the 2019 general elections and beyond.
