The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sly Ezeonkenwa, has declared that Peter Obi has no pathway to victory within the 2027 presidential election, arguing that continued political alienation has not served the pursuits of the Southeast.
Speaking throughout an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Ezeonkenwa stated APGA would help President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid as a result of the celebration believes aligning with the political centre presents the area a greater likelihood of securing future presidential energy, whereas defending the choice that regardless of Obi’s standing as a former APGA governor and a distinguished son of Anambra State.
“It’s not about bandying about figures. It is about presenting our people with the fact, the truth, the bitter truth, as it were, that in this election, for me, I can say that as painful as it is, there is no pathway for the victory of our so-called brother in this election. And it is better in our strategic interest, as NDIBU, for us to align with the aspiration of President Bola Tinubu.”
Ezeonkenwa stated Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s help for Tinubu was not merely a product of his private relationship with the president. “The decision of Professor Charles Soludo, who, by the way, is the national leader of our party, to support Mr. President transcends personal relationship. It transcends their friendship.”
He stated coalitions had been inevitable in Nigeria’s multi-party democracy. “In a multi-party democracy as ours, coalitions are inevitable.”
Ezeonkenwa defined {that a} presidential candidate should safe a easy majority of votes solid and at the very least 25 per cent of votes in at the very least two-thirds of Nigeria’s states to be elected.
“You can be certain that for any presidential candidate to meet the constitutional threshold, because you must recall, to become elected as a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the constitution requires that you must first of all secure the simple majority, and then you have the one quarter of, that’s 25% of one quarter of votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states in the country.”
He stated the requirement made it tough for candidates to win with out constructing wider political alliances. “You will agree with me that it is not an easy task for any presidential candidate in a multi-party democracy to achieve in any election, and that it, therefore, calls for broader coalition.”
Ezeonkenwa stated APGA’s help for Tinubu adopted a longstanding celebration coverage of sustaining cordial relations with the ruling celebration as a part of its strategic alliances and political survival. “APGA as a political party, has a policy. It’s a standing policy where the party feels that part of its strategic alliances or part of its strategic survival is a continual relationship, very cordial relationship with the ruling party.”
He stated the coverage dated again to 2011, when APGA adopted the presidential candidacy of then-President Goodluck Jonathan. “Of course, you know very well that it is a policy that was drawn or entered into by the party sometime in 2011, incidentally.”
Ezeonkenwa stated the celebration’s method additionally mirrored its perception that political events with related ideologies might help a typical presidential candidate as an alternative of contesting individually. “If in a multi-party democracy that our affiliations or maybe alliances or alignment with any political party should be ideologically driven, and if it is ideologically driven, then there is actually nothing wrong in political parties that profess similar ideology to actually come together and throw their weight behind a common presidential candidate.”
He stated APGA’s place was additionally mirrored in its present alliance with Tinubu’s administration. “it is that alliance, it is that coalition that led to the appointment of a serving BOT member of APGA, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, as a current minister in the current cabinet of President Bola Metinibu, as well as the appointment of another member of APGA.”
Ezeonkenwa argued that the Southeast ought to help Tinubu as a result of, in his view. “We believe, before the advent of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, the promoters or the people who founded the ruling party, then PDP, came together and crafted an agreement. It was more or less an unwritten agreement on power rotation or power sharing between the North and the South.”
He stated the association meant the South ought to full its tenure by way of Tinubu earlier than the presidency returned to the query of regional rotation. “And we believe that for whatever it is worth, it is the turn of the South.”
Ezeonkenwa added that APGA believed the Southeast might enhance its probabilities of producing a future president. “If you look at the data or the statistics that was revealed just recently by INEC, showing the percentage of registered voters across the country, the Southeast has, I think, is about 11 point something percent of the registered voters.”
He stated the area couldn’t safe the presidency by itself with out help from different components of the nation. “ The question is, the Southeast as a whole cannot, personally or cannot by its own as a region, make someone the president without the broader coalition of other regions in the country.”
Ezeonkenwa stated the area’s political isolation since 2015 had weakened its place in nationwide politics. “Since 2015, it is our belief that the Southeast has been out of the scheme of things in the country. No matter how anybody feels about it, that is the bitter truth. It ought not to be so, but that is the reality on ground.”
He additionally defended APGA’s criticism of Obi. “I’ve not seen any former governor who was given the type of preeminence that Mr. Pitobu was given under Abga when he joined the party, how the party gave him his platform on a platter of gold. And he ran the election. And barely six months after he finished, he left the party.”
Ezeonkenwa alleged that Obi had continued to work towards APGA after leaving the celebration. “ From the time he left the party, he has continuously breathed down on the party. His only mission is to annihilate the party.”
He stated APGA had survived a number of political challenges involving Obi. “APGA as a political party has survived various onslaught by Mr. Pitobu against the party.”
He additionally stated Anambra Governor Soludo had invited Obi again to APGA in 2022 as a result of the celebration believed cooperation. “Mind you, notwithstanding all this, the governor of the state, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, in 2022, and in recognition of the fact that this is a son of the state and a former member of the party, had actually invited him back to the party to join the party because we believe that for us to have a shot at the presidency, that we needed to build that brother alliance.”
He additionally rejected recommendations that APGA had didn’t acknowledge Obi’s position within the celebration’s electoral success in Anambra. “we have never as a political party, denied the fact that Peter will be God Afghan re-elected in Anambra. We’ve never denied that.”
He added that APGA had supported Obi’s political mandate by way of the courts when he was elected governor. “The fact is that it was Afgha, first of all, that did someone a favour by offering its platform in 2003, went to the tribunal, defended that mandate.”
Ezeonkenwa stated APGA would work to steer voters within the Southeast to help Tinubu’s re-election. “As a political party, it is the decision of the leaders of the party that what serves our strategic interest at this point in time is to support the candidacy of President Bola Tinubu.”
He stated APGA’s place was knowledgeable by its historical past, insurance policies and alliances. “That is what Afgha stands for. That is where APGA stands. And we are going to do everything possible to convince our people on why they need to vote for the candidacy of President Ahmed Tinubu.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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