* Reveals how president Buhari saved Gov. Obiano in 2017 election
By Ezeocha Nzeh
Ahead of the November 6, governorship election in Anambra state, Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, on Thursday revealed that the President Muhammadu Buhari worked to actualize the re election of Governor Willy Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance ( APGA), during the 2017 governorship election in Anambra state.
Okechukwu who was responding to an attack by an APGA group in Anambra state, following his recent call for APGA to collapse into the All Progressives Congress ( APC) to ensure victory in the governorship election, maintained that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and All Progressives Congress (APC) have a history of long cosy political understanding, dating back to 2013 when a faction of APGA joined the merger of APC.
“And we cannot in 2017, forget how President Muhammadu Buhari more or less saved His Excellency Wille Obiano from his traducers, hence his re-election.” Okechukwu, who is a member of the APC Anambra governorship election Campaign Council stated.
The VON DG stated that it was on the background of the cordial relationship that existed between APGA and APC that informed his recent counsel to APGA leaders to fuse into APC as a pragmatic step towards successful and seamless prosecution of the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
“So, that suggestion was made from the prism of the pragmatic Zikist political model, which joins us with APGA. Pragmatism is the best strategy for Ndigbo to kill two birds with one stone, because if APGA fuses into APC that will gift APC with three states in the Southeast geopolitical zone – a milestone.
“With three strategic states of Southeast in APC’s kitty, that is a halfway stroke to Ndigbo’s ambition of achieving Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Therefore, I implore to kindly consider the fruit in APGA joining APC to win the Anambra governorship. Other details will be cordially harmonized.
“My take is that if the two parties, APGA and APC-come together under one bloc, it would then be possible for us to weigh the two flag bearers, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and Senator Andy Uba, on the scale of which of them could better win the election in terms of acceptability, integrity, public service record, capacity and vision for good governance,” the VON DG stated.”
Okechukwu, while faulting the claim by Chinedu Obidigwe that APC was plotting a forceful takeover of Anambra state, insisted that the feasibility of his suggestion could further be seen from the political understanding between the All Peoples Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999. He recalled: “we must recall that in 1999, based on strategic thinking, AD and APP were merged for the Presidential election.” Obidigwe, the National Coordinator of APGA Media Warriors, had in a statement, criticised Okechukwu for asking APGA to integrate fully into APC and join the mainstream of Nigeria politics so as to help Igbo pick the Presidential seat in 2023.
But, Okechukwu told reporters in Abuja, that APGA was missing the point by seeking to remain as a big fish in a small pond of regional politics that has only earned it just one state out of the entire federation.
He insisted that APGA can, apart from solving its intractable myriad of post-governorship primary litigations, join its old ally, APC, to win the governorship, instead of doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result.
