AS ill health and age took their toll, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was said to have begged the electorate in Anambra State to grant him a last wish.He craved the re-election of his political son, Governor Peter Obi. He might as well have added: 'Please don't let the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) die.'For many, especially the youths in the South East geopolitical zone, Odumegwu-Ojukwu was synonymous with the strides and whatever electoral successes the APGA may have so far achieved.For two seasons, 2003 and 2007, he was by right, the party's presidential candidate. In 2003, when the pioneer national chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie approached Odumegwu-Ojukwu with the offer to fly the presidential banner of APGA, he was aware of how the Ikemba will pull the numbers for the party, at least in the zone.For Odumegwu-Ojukwu too, coming to APGA after his sojourn in the then All Peoples Party (APP), was a homecoming of sorts. It does not matter that in the 2003 presidential election, he came third, while in 2007, the performance dipped further.Odumegwu-Ojukwu, joining APGA in 2002 offered him a platform to cash in on what he called his sacrifices. In an earlier speech, 'I Have Paid My Dues,' he had stated: 'For you (Ndigbo), I abandoned all ease and embraced pain. For you, I impoverished myself to buy your protection. For you I walked every battlefront to assure your welfare. For you I stood when every other person crouched. For you I endured 13 years of bitter exile. For you I endured 10 months of maximum security prison. For you I embraced priestly poverty. For you I continue to struggle'What I have said is not harsh, it is only the naked truth and it reflects only the intensity of the love I habour for my people.' And in return, he wanted their votes to continue the struggle, which endeared him to Ndigbo.APGA offered him that platform to soldier on; to pursue his battles for the emancipation of Ndigbo. He was the toast of the youths and many who had fought by his side during the 30 month Civil War. And although APGA was not a military detachment, but a political party, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Peoples General, soon found himself leading the party on the war for votes. He had never been successful in that field. He was the spiritual leader of the party, galvanising Ndigbo to see themselves as one unit.In 2007, he ventured to explain the reasons for the establishment of APGA. He said: 'If you are ever going to be the president of Nigeria and are an Igbo man, your chances would be better in an Igbo party. The point is that APGA was formed to protect Igbo interest and pursue it.'Under his leadership, it was mixed fortunes for APGA. The party won the governorship election in Anambra but never managed to control the state House of Assembly; won a few seats in the House of Representatives, and has remained in crisis for the past seven years. In the process, Okorie, who ushered Odumegwu-Ojukwu into APGA, fell out with his mentor. The party was factionalised with Obi, Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Victor Umeh on one side, while Okorie led another faction.Odumegwu-Ojukwu's plea to the electorate in Anambra ahead of the 2010 governorship election in Anambra, tells a different tale. Despite the victories of Obi, APGA has never found a comfortable footing in the state. It was argued then that Odumegwu-Ojukwu knew the task Obi faced before making that passionate and touching 'last wish' appeal. The people eagerly honoured him, leaving many to wonder if Obi would have won the 2010 election, without Odumegwu-Ojukwu.APGA's electoral setbacks would pale into insignificance compared with the carnival reception Odumegwu-Ojukwu got wherever he went. He was the soul of APGA; he remained for the Ndigbo the symbol of a struggle, which meant different things to different people.As the APGA crisis raged, Odumegwu-Ojukwu symbolically held the reins of leadership as the Chairman of the party's Board of Trustees and National Leader.Umeh, who at various times has been recognised and invalidated by either the courts or the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the National Chairman of APGA said in an interview that the absence of Odumegwu-Ojukwu would create 'a very big vacuum. His absence remains a terrible blow to the party. I am the one that will suffer most. The reason is that in the years gone by, Odumegwu-Ojukwu had been the pillar of support to my chairmanship of APGA. Anything that stresses this party, I will discuss with him. If he goes through my argument and reason, and he finds them to be superior, he approves. He was a man that submitted to superior logic. And when he approves, he throws his weight behind it.'There is nobody in APGA who can call anybody to order more than Odumegwu-Ojukwu. During the electioneering campaigns, we were able to do our best because the messages remained the same. In our campaigns, I merely replicated the messages he would have given our people. Today, the message remains the same, but what is missing is the father figure of Odumegwu-Ojukwu. When people want to attack this party, his voice that will resonate and keep people at bay will now be sadly missed.'Looking ahead of life in APGA after Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Umeh noted that, 'despite his absence in the 2011 elections, the party experienced improved fortunes.' After the victory of the party in Imo, where Rochas Okorocha hoisted APGA's flag and the party also, for the first time, won a senatorial seat, Umeh beamed: 'We are going to dominate the entire South-East in subsequent elections with the way we are going. There is no stopping us. The absence of Odumegwu-Ojukwu has not affected us in anyway.'Umeh notes further: 'The name of Odumegwu-Ojukwu associated with APGA is not something you can reduce to only when he is alive. He remains the leader of APGA even in death and will continue to make our people remain attached to APGA. Nothing will remove the philosophy behind his demand on our people to follow APGA as a political vehicle for them. And that is why, even when he was not around, our people still identified with APGA, this is the party he decreed that our people should follow.'Umeh dismisses any threat by any party to dislodge APGA in the South East with the death of its spiritual leader. He said: 'APGA is not in any contest with any other party in the South East. The South East is a safe ground for APGA. The result of the 2011 election shows a contest between APGA and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). No other party poses any threat to APGA in the South East.'The influence of APGA in the zone is such that the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, described APGA as a religion of the people of the South East.'But, Okorie refused to be drawn into any discussion on the future of APGA with the exit of Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Describing Odumegwu-Ojukwu as a man 'I have known for the past 22 years' he noted, 'I am not eager to say much. I will wait till his burial, whenever that is.'He admitted that there will be so much talk and speculation about the future of APGA and the impact of Odumegwu-Ojukwu on APGA and what the party will look like without that impact. 'I am sure that at the appropriate time all that will be placed in perspective. We are all mourning; I am truly mourning. Odumegwu-Ojukwu was a man of history and I won't be one of those who will use his death to seek relevance. In fact there is so much to say.'There are indications that APGA is already tinkering with major restructuring. The speculations have been rife that Obi and Okorocha are in agreement on the need to clean the Augean stable and seek a national chairman not involved in the seven-year old crisis. That would mean the exit of Umeh. But he has denied such indications.APGA can't restructure without ending the present crisis that is still in the courts. In the absence of a charismatic figure like Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the party will flounder without internal stability. Where will the party find another Ikemba'APGA will make a mistake of measuring its acceptance in the absence of Odumegwu-Ojukwu with the victory of the party in Imo. Given the mood of the people in Imo in April, Okorocha would have won the election even if he was in another party. He won because the voters in Imo were determined to vote out the PDP and Okorocha happened to be at the right place at the right time. In the 2007, the APGA candidate, Chief Martin Agbaso didn't succeed with his governorship ambition, despite his claims.If Senator Chris Anyanwu had not left the People Democratic Party (PDP) after she lost in the primary, would she have joined the APGA' Most members of the Imo House of Assembly flowed with the populism of the moment to identify with APGA to win their seats. Why is APGA not so successful in Anambra' In Anambra, Odumegwu-Ojukwu's domain, APGA in two elections failed to win a senatorial seat; its representation in the House of Assembly in the state doesn't measure up to the fervor of its followership.The party has to resolve the leadership crisis that has beleaguered it, outside the courts; Okorie and Umeh with their supporters must agree to return home, drop the legalese and honour the spirit of Ikemba and save APGA from demise. APGA needs to build a party that is stronger than individuals and reposition itself in the region before seeking national acceptance. Ojukwu's last wish to the electorate in Anambra might have been the reelection of Obi, but his memory will not suffer if APGA becomes the platform for Ndigbo renaissance.However, APGA needs the kind of renaissance Ndigbo saw in Imo. It needs to build on the fact that Imo is not a happenstance but a reality whose dynamics can spring up elsewhere in the zone. There is nothing to be ashamed about if the party is viewed as a regional party because it is strong in the South East.The present leadership will soon discover if the people wholeheartedly rallied round APGA, or were drawn to the personality of Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Was he the folk hero for many young Biafrans, who missed the war but relished the euphoria of going into electoral battle with their hero' To this group, he was the face of the struggle for Ndigbo in the story of marginalisation of the South East. Has APGA therefore survived so far in spite of its leadership crisis because the people looked beyond the crisis'In the last presidential election, the leaders of APGA (Umeh and Obi) refused to present a presidential candidate. Was it perhaps because Odumegwu-Ojukwu was ill or because the party could not resolve its internal crisis to present a candidate and chose instead to support the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan' Ahead of the 2015 election, APGA needs to conduct a proper and acceptable national convention. The question is: how soon can the party overcome its internal contradictions. The death of Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu will not be an excuse for APGA to die.
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