By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has commended the prudence and sincerity of purpose of the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Oye.
Soludo, who specifically hailed Oye for erecting two secretariat buildings for the party in Awka and Abuja and handing over N300m cash after his tenure, said those were not common occurrences in a contemporary Nigerian society.
Soludo stated this in his address during the 2023 APGA National Convention held at the International Conference, Awka the Anambra State capital.
The governor who described APGA as a party for the masses and the common man, commended the newly elected National Working Committee of the party headed by a 38 year-old lawyer, Sly Ezeokenwa, as the national chairman.
Soludo’s address read in part,”We listened to our indefatigable former National Chairman( Oye) deliver his address and give account of his stewardship, of the outgoing National Working Committee. Eight years of focused hard work. And I don’t know if any of you heard what I heard. And I’m yet to hear of any other political party in Nigeria when outgoing exco that have served out eight years in office consistently; not the one removed by force or didn’t know that they would leave office, be able to tell us that they are able to leave behind assets.
“But in APGA you have. I don’t know any other political party that is sitting on its own property with its own title documents, fully furnished, multi-storey building there in Abuja. I don’t also know any other political party that has built a regional building on a five storey building with its own title documents as well.
“If you think in terms of the tangible assets; the wealth of APGA in terms of tangible, landed assets. It will be running into billions. And then, did you also hear him say that they will be handing over, over three hundred million naira in cash to the incoming NWC. For context, it is important to note that when they assumed office, they were handed over twenty five million.
“APGA is getting stronger. We are organically spreading across the entire country as Nigeria’s undisputable third force. We are systematically building to last. We’ve heard of what happened in the past and we have also heard about the road to the future. I want to appreciate our founding fathers and stakeholders of our party and all those who contested for various offices- win or lose, the important thing is that the spirit of APGA lives across the length and breath of our country. You came to serve APGA and you are leaving behind, a better APGA. We will never forget.
“I want to congratulate the fourth National Chairman( Sly Ezeokenwa) of our great party. The youthful, indefatigable, faithful, experienced, very well educated, defender of APGA- the man who was born into APGA. APGA is on a sound footing. I want to congratulate the new members of the National Working Committee. I also want to congratulate the members of the BOT that had just being reconstituted. We’ll hopefully meet soon and hopefully so, more regularly as the major think tank of this party. You have major work to do.
“APGA has a foundation, APGA is on the march. We are the party founded on pragmatic progressivism. And we call ourselves the grand alliance of all progressives. We are federalists. We believe that the future of Nigeria lies in its past- in terms of the federalist structure, negotiated by the founding fathers of this country in the constitutional conferences of 1953 to 1954. That’s the future.
“APGA is the first political party to profess that fiscal federalism; where the federal government does not constitute a constraint to the constituting states. We are a party of the common man. We are progressives. We believe in one United, strong and progressive Nigeria where equity, peace and justice reign.
“Let me use this opportunity to call on all who left the party for one reason or the other. Our tent is growing larger, and that tent is big enough to accommodate you. When you finish your sojourn whereve you are, the APGA tent is big enough to accommodate you. There is nowhere like home. Come back to APGA. APGA is that home. It is that movement firmly rooted in clear ideologies and clear programmes that has a base. You grow from the ground up. There are no factions in APGA. APGA remains one indivisible, United and very strong political party in Nigeria.
“We believe in partnerships and networks. We will continue with the APGA laid down policy to partner with the federal government. We intend to continue with that. Because we are a party that believes in partnerships and one Nigeria, we are better together. Nigeria is stronger together, because we want to produce results and get outcomes. We don’t want to sit by the side protesting. We want to partner with those who want to move Nigeria forward.”
