The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sly Ezeonkenwa, has declared that Peter Obi has no pathway to victory in the 2027 presidential election, arguing that continued political alienation has not served the interests of the Southeast.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Ezeonkenwa said APGA would support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid because the party believes aligning with the political centre offers the region a better chance of securing future presidential power, while defending the decision that despite Obi’s status as a former APGA governor and a prominent son of Anambra State.
“It’s not about bandying about figures. It is about presenting our people with the fact, the truth, the bitter truth, as it were, that in this election, for me, I can say that as painful as it is, there is no pathway for the victory of our so-called brother in this election. And it is better in our strategic interest, as NDIBU, for us to align with the aspiration of President Bola Tinubu.”
Ezeonkenwa said Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s support for Tinubu was not simply a product of his personal relationship with the president. “The decision of Professor Charles Soludo, who, by the way, is the national leader of our party, to support Mr. President transcends personal relationship. It transcends their friendship.”
He said coalitions were inevitable in Nigeria’s multi-party democracy. “In a multi-party democracy as ours, coalitions are inevitable.”
Ezeonkenwa explained that a presidential candidate must secure a simple majority of votes cast and at least 25 per cent of votes in at least two-thirds of Nigeria’s states to be elected.
“You can be certain that for any presidential candidate to meet the constitutional threshold, because you must recall, to become elected as a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the constitution requires that you must first of all secure the simple majority, and then you have the one quarter of, that’s 25% of one quarter of votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states in the country.”
He said the requirement made it difficult for candidates to win without building wider political alliances. “You will agree with me that it is not an easy task for any presidential candidate in a multi-party democracy to achieve in any election, and that it, therefore, calls for broader coalition.”
Ezeonkenwa said APGA’s support for Tinubu followed a longstanding party policy of maintaining cordial relations with the ruling party as part of its strategic alliances and political survival. “APGA as a political party, has a policy. It’s a standing policy where the party feels that part of its strategic alliances or part of its strategic survival is a continual relationship, very cordial relationship with the ruling party.”
He said the policy dated back to 2011, when APGA adopted the presidential candidacy of then-President Goodluck Jonathan. “Of course, you know very well that it is a policy that was drawn or entered into by the party sometime in 2011, incidentally.”
Ezeonkenwa said the party’s approach also reflected its belief that political parties with similar ideologies could support a common presidential candidate instead of contesting separately. “If in a multi-party democracy that our affiliations or maybe alliances or alignment with any political party should be ideologically driven, and if it is ideologically driven, then there is actually nothing wrong in political parties that profess similar ideology to actually come together and throw their weight behind a common presidential candidate.”
He said APGA’s position was also reflected in its existing alliance with Tinubu’s administration. “it is that alliance, it is that coalition that led to the appointment of a serving BOT member of APGA, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, as a current minister in the current cabinet of President Bola Metinibu, as well as the appointment of another member of APGA.”
Ezeonkenwa argued that the Southeast should support Tinubu because, in his view. “We believe, before the advent of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, the promoters or the people who founded the ruling party, then PDP, came together and crafted an agreement. It was more or less an unwritten agreement on power rotation or power sharing between the North and the South.”
He said the arrangement meant the South should complete its tenure through Tinubu before the presidency returned to the question of regional rotation. “And we believe that for whatever it is worth, it is the turn of the South.”
Ezeonkenwa added that APGA believed the Southeast could improve its chances of producing a future president. “If you look at the data or the statistics that was revealed just recently by INEC, showing the percentage of registered voters across the country, the Southeast has, I think, is about 11 point something percent of the registered voters.”
He said the region could not secure the presidency on its own without support from other parts of the country. “ The question is, the Southeast as a whole cannot, personally or cannot by its own as a region, make someone the president without the broader coalition of other regions in the country.”
Ezeonkenwa said the region’s political isolation since 2015 had weakened its place in national politics. “Since 2015, it is our belief that the Southeast has been out of the scheme of things in the country. No matter how anybody feels about it, that is the bitter truth. It ought not to be so, but that is the reality on ground.”
He also defended APGA’s criticism of Obi. “I’ve not seen any former governor who was given the type of preeminence that Mr. Pitobu was given under Abga when he joined the party, how the party gave him his platform on a platter of gold. And he ran the election. And barely six months after he finished, he left the party.”
Ezeonkenwa alleged that Obi had continued to work against APGA after leaving the party. “ From the time he left the party, he has continuously breathed down on the party. His only mission is to annihilate the party.”
He said APGA had survived several political challenges involving Obi. “APGA as a political party has survived various onslaught by Mr. Pitobu against the party.”
He also said Anambra Governor Soludo had invited Obi back to APGA in 2022 because the party believed cooperation. “Mind you, notwithstanding all this, the governor of the state, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, in 2022, and in recognition of the fact that this is a son of the state and a former member of the party, had actually invited him back to the party to join the party because we believe that for us to have a shot at the presidency, that we needed to build that brother alliance.”
He also rejected suggestions that APGA had failed to acknowledge Obi’s role in the party’s electoral success in Anambra. “we have never as a political party, denied the fact that Peter will be God Afghan re-elected in Anambra. We’ve never denied that.”
He added that APGA had supported Obi’s political mandate through the courts when he was elected governor. “The fact is that it was Afgha, first of all, that did someone a favour by offering its platform in 2003, went to the tribunal, defended that mandate.”
Ezeonkenwa said APGA would work to persuade voters in the Southeast to support Tinubu’s re-election. “As a political party, it is the decision of the leaders of the party that what serves our strategic interest at this point in time is to support the candidacy of President Bola Tinubu.”
He said APGA’s position was informed by its history, policies and alliances. “That is what Afgha stands for. That is where APGA stands. And we are going to do everything possible to convince our people on why they need to vote for the candidacy of President Ahmed Tinubu.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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