Chinedu Obidigwe is a former member of the House of Representatives and a chief of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In this interview with OKEY MADUFORO, he speaks on the petition against his candidacy for the 2027 elections and other issues

A group known as APGA Stakeholders has accused you of hijacking the leadership of the party. How would you respond that?

We all know the origin of our dear party and how we have been able to midwife the party to the enviable level it is today. Our party had produced three governors back to back and still counting and this is on the account of that smooth transition from APGA to APGA.

I have served as the local government Chairman of Anambra East Council and have been a Political Adviser to a former governor of Anambra State, and under my watch, APGA had continued to grow from strength to strength and enviable record for the party . So, it is indeed funny that some people have chosen to throw spanners into the good works of the party by attacking major stakeholders who have played great roles towards the growth of the party.

These unknown entities have as an agenda to run down the party in Anambra East and West Federal Constituency with unsubstantiated allegations of party hijack and non-recognition of the party leadership, which had neither constitutional allusion nor incidental references. It is on record that I have never been queried by the party leadership nor summoned by any disciplinary body from the ward to the state level, which is an indication that the party finds me a loyal party man and devoted stakeholder.

But they also alleged that you converted executive members of the party to members of your campaign council?

You do not pity someone who chose to dance naked at the market square believing that he is wearing a cloth. I challenge them to name one member of the local or state working committee or executive member that is part of this alleged campaign council.

Funny enough, I am yet to set up my campaign council until after the primary elections No aspirant gets APGA ticket without going through the processes –Obidigwe hence the peddlers of falsehood are apparently misleading the public with several tissues of lies in that regard.

Also they went into name dropping by claiming that the former state chairman of the party, Chief Norbert Obi, accused me of hijacking the party, which cannot be proven as there is neither a memo nor a single petition to that effect signed by the then chairman.

But you have pending matters in court with some members of your constituency…

As you can see, any matter that is pending in court is subjudice and one cannot comment on that. So, I will not want to go deep into it. However, for the records, the court matters bordering on my personal records, is yet another lie from the pit of hell given the fact that three persons had challenged it in court and lost as the court ruled that there is nothing ambiguous about my personal records.

This talk about awarding tickets to aspirants is incongruous to the party’s nomination process as it is a fact that no aspirant is awarded with party tickets

In the case of Hon Jideofor Okoye, who was disqualified by the primaries committee, it is a known fact that the party has guidelines for the conduct of primary elections and Okoye approached the court, challenging the process but the court upheld my nomination and that has vindicated both our party and the electoral process.

But your opponents claimed that the ticket of Anambra East and West Federal Constituency was awarded to you against the provisions of party constitution…

This talk about awarding tickets to aspirants is incongruous to the party’s nomination process as it is a fact that no aspirant is awarded with party tickets because you must subject yourself to the processes.

So, they are accusing the party of being undemocratic and unethical in the process of nominating candidates and theses indictments are actionable in court. I, therefore, urge the party’s leadership to take notice of this and take disciplinary actions against them if such people actually exist.

They claimed that you lost the 2023 general election because you are not popular. How true is this?

That is begging the question because we all know what transpired in that election with Peter Obi as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and there was that bandwagon effect on most candidates.

Come to think of it, I lost with only 1,065 votes which is too little, while other candidates across the political parties lost with over 4,000 votes respectively hence their claim of my being unpopular doesn’t hold water at this point. My contributions to our dear party are unequaled and these faceless people know it.

I have a political movement in our party that was able to galvanize membership and followership in the state recording landmark victories across the three senatorial Districts of the state hence they claim that I am not popular. Where were they when we were building the party and what role have they been playing ever since?

What’s your take on the contention is that you are being drafted for a third term ticket?

This is indeed laughable giving the fact that the state and National Assembly positions have limitless tenure in office and within the circles of membership of the three chambers, the more tenure one attains, the more ranking he or she becomes and that translates to attracting quality dividends of democracy to the constituency or senatorial district. A firsttimer will not enjoy such advantage.

It is no longer news that people have been at the legislative arm of government for three tenures such as Hon Obinna Emenaka of Anambra East state constituency, Hon Lynda Ikpeazu of Onitsha North and South federal constituency as well as Hon. Chris Azubogu of Nnewi North/Nnewi South/ Ekwusigo Federal Constituency.

That goes to show the level and mentality of these so called opposition who are not informed about the workings of our democratic process and it is indeed unfortunate.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) appears to be the party of the moment and we wonder if you are not worried about a similar Labour Party bandwagon in the forthcoming elections?

I am not a member of the ADC to posit what would happen to the party next year and I am not in better position to make analysis on that. However, what I do know is that APGA is good to go and we are poised towards achieving landslide victory in the coming elections. Besides, no political dispensation is similar to another.

So, for one to begin to postulate about the outcome of 2027 general election is indeed suicidal and I am saying this as a grassroots politician because we have been around for a while. That the Labour Party had its way in the last elections doesn’t mean that a similar outcome will play out in the next elections and politicians are wiser now and are out to ensure that their political parties are delivered at the end of the day.