Essential Ndubuisi
AIF Media
In 2002 when APGA was registered, Chief Sir Senator Victor Umeh was just the National Treasurer of the party. In the hierarchy of the party succession, there was a Deputy National Chairman and Zonal Vice Chairman. Therefore, if anything should happen to the National Chairman, these officers were the likely successors.
But in his smartness, Senator Victor Umeh, who was the National Treasurer carefully planned a coup against Chief Chekwas Okorie the then National Chairman of APGA and ousted him. He announced himself as the National Chairman and went ahead to sack the Deputy National Chairman, and the zonal Vice Chairman.
He deceived Ojukwu and Peter Obi to support his personal agenda. Ojukwu and Obi thought the coup ousting Chekwas Okorie was for the interest of the party.
Umeh succeeded and ran APGA for 12 years as the National Chairman without any election. In February 2011, there was a convention at Awka where a mere voice vote was used to keep him as the National Chairman. In 2015, he laterally extended his tenure to enable him contest the Anambra central senatorial election as a sitting national chairman.
In 2013 Anambra state governorship election. Umeh played another smart game on Peter Obi, the then APGA governor.
It is no longer a secret that it was Umeh who secretly planted gov Obiano, negotiated with him behind and pretended that he never knew nor met the Aguleri man. He smartly lobbied Obi through proxies to pick Obiano as his successor.
Peter Obi in his usual unnecessary carefulness fell to his trap and nominated Obiano as his successor. Immediately the 2013 election was concluded in which Obiano was declared winner, Umeh showed himself, as usual he hijacked the system and like what he did to Chekwas Okorie, chased away Peter Obi from APGA.
Remember that at the formation stage of APGA, Umeh was quoted as saying that there was no way President Obasanjo would allow INEC to register APGA as a political party. He walked away from that struggle and joined PDP.
When APGA was finally registered, he returned and begged Chekwas to accept him back. Chekwas who was pushing for Igbo unity forgave Umeh and made him the National Treasurer of APGA. The same Umeh conspired against him and ousted Chekwas from the party he laboured to register.
In 2012, Umeh fell out with gov Peter Obi and a political battle ensued between them. Obi moved against Umeh, sacked him as the National Chairman of APGA and installed Maxi Okwu.
That was when Umeh approached Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo and convinced him to join APGA and help him to fight gov Obi. According to Soludo in an interview he granted then, he alleged that Umeh came to his Abuja residence and promised him that if he joins him in APGA and help to defeat Obi and return as the National Chairman of APGA, he would give him the APGA ticket for Anambra state 2013 Governorship election.
Soludo agreed and joined forces with Umeh and at the level of Appeal Enugu on July 15, 2013 Umeh was reinstated as the National Chairman of APGA. After the judgement, Umeh and Obi reconciled and in a surprise move, Umeh disqualified Prof Soludo from contesting the governorship election, the same man he went to his house at Abuja and reached an agreement with.
Soludo got angry and went to court to challenge his disqualification. He later abandoned the case because he has no capacity to pursue it.
Sadly, on September 12, 2019 Umeh while speaking at the APGA retreat for all the party aspirants held at Finotel Awka, told the audience that it was Iyom Bianca Ojukwu who informed him that President Jonathan was against Soludo flying APGA’s ticket and that he should be disqualified.
Again, Umeh used that occasion to smartly remove himself from that blame of unjustly disqualifying Soludo in 2013. Remember he made the allegation at a time Soludo was supporting Bianca for her 2019 Senatorial bid.
That’s how smart Umeh has been playing everyone in APGA.
Presently, he is at it again. He convened a meeting in his home where he endorsed Soludo for APGA ticket. And in that event he boasted how he brought Soludo into APGA. He aslo revealed that it was gov Obiano that asked him to go and support Soludo.
That was the same game that played out in 2013 where Obi was deceived to think that he was behind Obiano’s emergence.
AIF Media gathered that Ozo Victor Oye is now careful of being used like Peter Obi. We also gathered that Madam is also playing safe in this whole intrigues. The Aguleri cabal from our Investigation is only a vehicle, playing the same role Peter Obi played in bringing his successor.
AIF Media
