By David-Chyddy Eleke
THE RAZOR was among the news outfits that covered the South East stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which held at the International Convention Center in Awka three weeks before the primary election of the party.
The National Leader of the party, Prof Chukwuma Soludo garnered a lot of applause from party men and women when he stated his readiness to stamp his feet on the ground and revamp the party.
Below is a sniper of the riot act the governor read to members and party officials that day.
“Let me be blunt,” Soludo started. “The era of “trade by barter” politics in APGA is over. This party will no longer be a rented platform for personal ambition. The era of “gift-ticket” must end now. We are building a proper movement where loyalty matters and tickets are not for sale.
“In 2024, we became the first party in Nigeria to fully digitize our membership register. That means every registered member now has the right to vote and be voted for. No more shadows. We have also adopted Option A-4 for our primaries — open, transparent, and fair to all.
“You all heard our National Chairman, Barr. Sly Ezeokenwa read out the new rules of the party. Party executives must stay neutral or resign if they want to campaign for anyone. These are tough rules, but serious parties must do tough things. I want to tell our national chairman and his exco members that they may be the greatest losers of this new system. This is supposed to be their season, but with the new rule, they may not benefit,” Soludo said laughing.
He went further to say that: “The era where you take money to party officials in their houses is over. Some aspirants may have people who are close to me and they will tell you they can put your name as candidates, but if you give your money to anyone, you must consider it a waste. Anyone who wants to see a party official must go to his office and not in his house. If you give them kola, consider it a waste because it can’t influence anything.”
The party’s primary elections held last Saturday and results declared, while the party has given a list of those to represent it at the general election next year. But the problem is – does the list reflect the votes cast on ground? We leave the answer to our readers.
Since after the party’s primary election, THE RAZOR has received several complaints, both of irregularities during the election, outright displacement of clear winners in some constituencies to favour anointed candidates and also tales of heavy bribery involving top officials.
In a particular case, an aspirant wept that after clearly winning the election, he was mandated to provide kola before his declaration sheet could be signed to authenticate his victory. He said the funds dished out was in millions.
Another lamented that after clearly winning his constituency, his name was removed and replaced with another aspirant who was alleged to have a godfather with a deep pocket.
Yet another cried that the entire process was a sham, insisting that the results were premeditated, but the party clearly led them into spending hugely for the election.
But what was more surprising was that APGA today operates like a cult. Except in a few cases where aspirants voiced their frustration, other spoke in hushed voices, but later conceded to “party supremacy”.
One of the aspirants who claimed to have been rigged out invited a reporter from THE RAZOR NEWS, but just as we settled down for an interview, he sank into a praise-singing session for the governor and the party officials. He cited the supremacy of the party and pledged his support in the general election. But immediately after the tape recorder stopped rolling, he resumed his lamentations again. Asked why he couldn’t voice his dissatisfaction with the process, he simply said: “My brother, I can not fight the people involved. Let me just move on.”
Now, with the glowing speech Soludo made at the International Convention Centre, can he beat his chest as say that his words corresponded with what happened on Saturday? Can Governor Soludo who read out what looked like a riot act to party officials truly say he didn’t know that some underhand dealings took place during the election?
It may be possible that he didn’t know, but how will the governor check against what happened on Saturday affecting the outcome of the main election in February next year?
A member of the party told THE RAZOR that what happened on that Saturday has dampened the spirit of many people and may affect the outcome of the general election as many people are disenchanted already.
This is really bad. Prof Soludo may have good intentions about restructuring APGA, but alas his lieutenants failed him. Or was Soludo himself involved in the mess that happened on Saturday? This validates the saying that – talk is cheap. But with personalities like Soludo, talk shouldn’t be cheap. He should be able to walk his talk.
A party like APGA, which is closely knitted and considered one family, especially with its slogan – Be your brother’s keeper, should not be known for the kind of tales we hear about the primary election. Things must change if the people in APGA are truly their brother’s keepers.
