Victor EzejaNigeria’s electoral process has over the years been riddled with irregularities making it possible for a few major political parties to dominate power while others are systematically excluded.
This, according to the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Senator Victor Umeh, has made other political parties like APGA to appear like a non-national party.
Umeh who formerly represented Anambra Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, said if there is going to be a free, fair and credible election in the country in 2023, APGA would win more states across the federation.
The APGA chieftain made the assertion at Arise TV programme, while responding to a question on why the party appears not to have national spread.
APGA since its emergence has been operating mainly in Southeast making critics say it is a regional party.
But Umeh in his response said APGA is a national party, explaining that people only judge the structure of a political party by the number of states it has won elections in and controls power.
He further argued that no political party in the country started as a national party but from one state to another through gadual process of winning elections in states they now have national spread.
He recalled how Alliance for Democracy (AD) held sway in South West when democracy returned to the country in 1999, and gradually transformed from AC to ACN, and finally merged with CPC and ANPP to become APC which is in control of government today.
He said if the electoral process is successfully reforrmed to allow credible polls take place APGA would definitely gain popularity in many states across the federation where it has members.
His words, “APGA is going to be very powerful in no distant time. Now that we’re hoping on a reformed electoral process ahead of 2023 general elections, I’ll tell you that APGA will spring surprises everywhere. By the time we’re done with 2023, APGA will have more states in its fold including winning other places outside the South East zone.
“So, what is important is for us to have credible elections so that you begin to have a reflection of how people vote when the results are announced. APGA will do well in Lagos anytime you call for elections. APGA will do well in FCT, it will do well in any part of Nigeria, because people who follow the party are living in all parts of Nigeria, even in the South South. So, the important thing is for us to have credible elections.
“All these big parties you’re mentioning now, their strength have blossomed because of election rigging in the past. Let’s do the right thing in 2023 and then we run a check after the elections and you’ll see that APGA is a party that has a very latent electoral value across Nigeria that needs to be liberated through credible elections. Once we do that there is no reason APGA won’t win elections in so many local governments in Lagos State, bringing National Assembly members and other people. So, let’s do credible elections and we know who is stronger,” the APGA chieftain asserted.
Umeh emphatically stated that the party plans to pick its presidential candidate in the 2023 election from South-East geopolitical zone of the country.
This according to him would be done to address the issue of unity of Nigeria, as nobody from the South-East zone has been the president of the country since the inception of democracy in the country, making the people feel marginalised.
He further stated that all other political parties like PDP, APC should respect the principle of rotation and ensure that their presidential candidates emerge from South-East in order to address perceived imbalance in acess to power among the zones.
“For presidency, APGA will field a presidential candidate in 2023 from the South East zone,” he emphatically stated.
He said that during 2014 National Conference, the delegates agreed on power rotation between the North and Southern parts and across the geopolitical zones in the country.
“Applying that principle of rotation of presidency between North and South, it’s only the South East that is yet to take its turn. The current president is from the North-West and anybody from the NorthWest that is trying to succeed President Buhari, is insensitive to the call for national unity and cohesion,” Senator Umeh.
When asked about the factors of merit on the part of aspirants instead of rotating the presidency among the geo-political zones, Umeh said even with that, there were many qualified persons in all ramifications from the South-East who could run the office successfully, but according to, him there is a continuous grand conspiracy to perpetually exclude people from the region from mounting the presidential seat
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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