Attempts to deny Tinubu second term spell doom for APC — Businessman

Frontline estate investor, Architect Alex Chukwuemeka Obiechina, has stated that anyone attempting to prevent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or the South from enjoying another four years in the presidency would be working towards the annihilation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Obiechina also asserted that the Southeast geopolitical zone is solidly behind President Tinubu’s plan to deepen democratic culture as a means of stabilising Nigeria’s economy.

He dismissed concerns raised in certain quarters that the president was plotting a one-party political structure for Nigeria, stressing that political indiscipline has long been at the root of the fluctuating fortunes of the country’s democracy.

Speaking to select journalists in Abuja, Obiechina remarked that it was uncharitable to place the blame for the lack of purposeful leadership in the nation’s major political parties entirely on the president.

According to him, many of those who found themselves at the helm of party administration lack experience and proper knowledge of personnel management, adding that numerous party leaders confuse personal ambition with the popular desire for a strong political platform.

He stated, “If party supremacy, as popularised by Senator Adams Oshiomhole, should hold in Nigeria, then managers of the various political parties must learn to separate their personal designs and desires from the popular will of the party faithful.

“Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost the opportunity to have a tested and experienced politician in the person of the late Sunday Awoniyi as its national chairman, the party has continued to wobble under the weight of indiscipline, unbridled personal or sectional ambition, and hubris.

“I was a victim of PDP’s impunity and disregard for laid-down procedures. Nobody should cry for the party because it was jinxed to suffer for its 16 years of imbalance in political thought, disregard for fairness, and equity.”

Commenting on the recent defection of the entire Delta State structure of PDP to the ruling APC, the estate developer expressed hope that similar mass defections would continue until those remaining in the party show contrition and apologise to Nigerians.

“PDP thinks it can prosper with accumulated wickedness and selfishness. In 1999, the founding national chairman, the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, was denied the opportunity to fly the party’s flag. The people of the Southeast continued to vote PDP for the next 20 years. Then, in 2023, when it was obviously time to recognise the sacrifices of Southeast supporters, PDP engaged in evasive manoeuvres.

“On a personal level, I won a governorship primary election in Enugu State, but some officials at the PDP headquarters hid the result of the governorship primary until after what would have been my four-year term was exhausted, thereby leading the court to declare that my case had become academic.

“Gentlemen, I know what I am saying. I still feel the pain. Nobody should blame Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and my good friend, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa. Like most of us, they acted based on their conscience in protest against the political stupidity of a once-national political movement.”

Obiechina disclosed that, given the sterling performance of Governor Peter Mbah in Enugu, which President Tinubu publicly acknowledged in January this year, it would be a welcome development if the governor decided to join APC.

He stated, “The governor of my state, Dr Peter Mbah, has been giving a good account of his mandate. I am happy with the level of cooperation our governor is receiving from the APC-led Federal Government and Mr President. If tomorrow Governor Mbah decides to join us in APC, the entire people of Enugu will troop to the streets in wild jubilation.

“However, if the governor decides to remain under the tattered umbrella, he knows that the people of Enugu State are in full support of President Tinubu’s second-term aspiration. Whoever tries to stop Tinubu or the South from enjoying another four years in the presidency would be recommending PDP’s punishment for APC. God forbid.”

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