Ojukwu, Obi Welcome Orji into APGA

Written by This Day Saturday, 03 July 2010

Leader of the All Progre-ssives Grand Alliance, Chukwuemeka Odum-egwu Ojukwu, yesterday, proclaimed total freedom for the people of Abia State as the state governor, Theodore Orji officially declared his membership of the party.

Ojukwu, accompanied by Anambra State governor, Peter Obi and 11 national officers of APGA, including national chairman, Victor Umeh and national secretary, Sani Shinkafi, arrived the capacity filled Michael Okpara auditorium, Umuahia at exactly 2.55 p.m. with Orji and was greeted with a thunderous ovation.

“Yeah! Let my people go,” Ojukwu roared like an old lion,” adding “today, Abia people have been liberated to join the rest of Ndigbo.”He told the cheering crowd that he was inspired by God to come to Abia and bring them into the fold of APGA hence they should not be afraid of following him as things would change for the better in the state.

The APGA leader assured that having embraced Governor Orji, he would not waver in giving him support “until together we reach the promised land,” adding that he would henceforth treat the Abia governor as a son.“Ochendo, from today you’re my son. Together we shall reach the promised land,” he said.Governor Orji in his address described his declaration as “a historic day in the life of Abia State.”

“It is a day that the sun is shinning; it is a day that our eyes are opened; it is a day we are relieved,” he said, adding that he was justified for every action he has taken because he was “pushed to the wall and even beyond the wall by the national leadership of the Progressive Peoples Alliance.”

The governor, who was visibly happy with his new found party, explained that he left PPA because he was rejected and “if you’re rejected, you go to another place and seek for solace.”He insisted that his action was in consonance with the yearnings of Abia people and he was prepared to lead them in the struggle for freedom, alluding to the stranglehold of the Orji Uzor Kalu political dynasty on Abia State.

“As a leader, there is a time you must listen to the yearnings of the people. There is a time you must do what pleases the people because I have the peoples’ mandate,” he said.
In their remarks, Governor Obi and Victor Umeh said that the entry of Orji into APGA marked the end of “godfatherism” in Abia State, noting that God’s own state would begin to reap the benefits just like Anambra has been enjoying massive development since the dismantling of “godfatherism”.

“APGA has not come to rake over Abia State. We have come here to create an environment that will ensure sustainable and enduring development,” the national chairman of APGA said.

“What happened in Anambra State that engendered development will start happening in Abia from today,” he promised.
The event witnessed a mass exodus of political office holders from the PPA to APGA, with Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Abia Speaker, Agwu U. Agwu and 13 PPA legislators, as well as two of their PDP counterparts, all in attendance at the event in solidarity with the governor.