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From: Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has said that the party and its late leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu were inseparable as the party would forever reverence his name.
Reacting to a publication by the Anambra State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Ken Emeakayi, in which he allegedly asked Governor Willie Obiano and APGA to refrain from using Ojukwu’s name for election purposes, the Anambra State Secretary of APGA, Hon. Tony Ifeanya, described the PDP Chairman’s statement as ill motivated and shadow chasing.
He noted that the late Ojukwu being the founding father of APGA, the Igbo nation transferred the love and respect they had for him to the APGA party, being a political party he wanted to rekindle Igbo spirit in Nigerian politics.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to the publication by the Ken Emeakayi led faction of PDP, Anambra State asking our working Governor to stop using Ojukwu’s name for election. To say the least, the publication and all its contents were misconstrued, ill motivated and shadow chasing.
“It is crystal clear that Ojukwu is the founding father of APGA in Nigeria and its first and only presidential candidate. It is also clear that the love which the Igbo nation had for their legendary hero, Ojukwu was transferred to APGA, his political party with which he wanted to rekindle the Igbo spirit and bring same alive into Nigerian politics.
“Granted that our darling hero and founder is dead, does it stop his party from calling his name while going on or keeping alive his legacies and dreams for Ndigbo? What Ken Emeakayi is saying can be likened to asking Chukwuma Azikiwe to stop using the name, Azikiwe or asking Mandella’s son to stop answering his father’s name.
“Why? Because it is a popular name. Because the father is a hero and because the father’s name will attract goodwill to the son or daughter. This is what Emeakayi is trying to say in essence and which you can see is borne of the fact that at the mention of Ojukwu’s name every right thinking Igbo man will agree and concur because the Igbos know what Ojukwu meant to them.
“Let me tell our brother Ken Emeakayi in unmistaken terms that Ojukwu and APGA are like Siemens twins which cannot be separated. Ojukwu lived and died professing the ideals of APGA as a political party and all we can do as his lovers is to keep those his ideals alive. And we cannot be professing what he imbibed in us without mentioning or calling his name.”
Ifeanya, therefore, said that asking APGA to stop using the name of Ojukwu was like telling Indians to forget about Mahatma Gandi or South Africans to forget about Nelson Mandela or Tanzanians to forget about Julius Nyerere, adding that “it is an honour and privilege for those of us who believed in them to use and stand on their already established protocols.”
The APGA scribe further said, “I do not see anything bad with that. I know it offends the likes of Ken Emeakayi because by calling or using Ojukwu’s name, we are reminding them of their sins against Ndigbo by not identifying with their own hero. It portrays them in their true light as enemies of Ndigbo who are ready for a plate of porridge to fritter away the only hope of Ndigbo in the Nigerian polity which is APGA.
“I feel for them because I know it puts a sense of guilt in them hence they would not like hearing us mention the name just like the occults will frown and shiver at the mention of the name Jesus Christ. So we have no apologies for calling on our founding father. We are doing what he passed on to us as good ambassadors of the Igbo nation.
“Most importantly APGA Governors from Peter Obi to Chief Willie Obiano have done Anambra State proud by progressively developing all sectors of the economy simultaneously to the joy and admiration of the all Anambrarians. Willie Obiano will forever be remembered for steering the ship of Anambra State out of the current economic recession and keeping the boat afloat when other states are sinking.”
He also refered the PDP chairman to the Prof Chukwuma Soludo’s lecture at the 3rd Anniversary of Obiano in office where he said, “If it is not broken why fix it,” stressing that Obiano’s second term was assured.
