Congresses Worthy Of Emulation By All Progressives Congress In Abia State.
Wednesday (Nkwo) 04-03-2026.
All Progressives Congress, APC, came into existence in Nigeria on Wednesday (Orie) 6th February, 2013.
In the general election that followed in 2015, the new Party, fielding Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, rtd, as her Presidential Candidate, was able to defeat the incumbent President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
However, in Abia State, the Party was marred by internal conflicts which were said to have resulted from high handedness and arbitrariness on the part of some of her leaders who were accused wanted to impose their selfish interest on the Party, at all cost.
As a result of what many critics described as politics of ego, which was conspicuously manifest in congresses and primary elections conducted by APC in Abia State, the Party was always fragmented at the end of each of their congresses and primary elections. Taking a cue from a line in W. B. Yeast’s 1919 Poem, The Second Coming, ‘Things always fell apart, the centre could not hold, and the falcon could not hear the falconer’.
So, in 2015, 2029, and 2023, APC could not gain access to Abia State Government House. But while the internal flaws raged in the Party in Abia State, two ‘brothers’ from Abia-North Senatorial District, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, and Dr Benjamin Okezie Kalu were busy building a formidable political structure that made APC a household name in Abia North. The result was unambiguous. In 2019, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu was elected into the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria while Dr Benjamin Okezie Kalu was elected into the 9th House of Representatives. That feat was repeated in 2023, even in the misdst of lack of properly cordinated Party Administration which also supposedly did not witness free and fair congresses.
Fast forward to 2026, the narrative has changed completely. With the leadership of the Party under the Deputy-Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, Rt Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu, CFR, APC in Abia State has manifestly resolved to unite all critical Stakeholders of the Party in Abia. The objective is simply aimed at returning the Party to the People. Every leader has been given a sense of belonging which eluded many previously.
The list, which is inexhaustible, include;
(1) the former Governor of Abia State and Ranking Senator representing Abia-North in the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H. E. Most Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu,
(2) the 2023 Governorship Candidate of the Party in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike,
(3) Senator Nkechi Nwaogu,
(4) the Minister of State for Labour, Dr Nkiruka Onyejiocha,
(5) a 2023 Governorship Contestant, Sir Mascot Uzor Kalu,
(6) a former Governorship Candidate of APC in Abia State, Chief Nyerere Anyim,
(7) a former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Christopher Enweremadu,
(8) a former Senatorial Candidate of APC in Abia-South, Sir Mac Wabara,
(9) the Member representing Ukwa-East and Ukwa-West Federal Constituency in the 10th House of Representatives, Hon Chris Nkwonta,
(10) a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Henry Ikoh, and
(11) a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Sir Don Ubani.
APC Congresses in Abia State started on Wednesday (Eke) 25th February, 2026, with Ward Congresses, Local Government Area Congresses on Thursday (Orie) 26th February, 2026, and culminated in State Congress held at Chidi Ebere Park at Umuahia on Tuesday (Afor) 3rd March, 2026. The setting was quite convivial, as every Stakeholder was given ample opportunity to make reasonable inputs on what became the outcome of the Congress. The most remarkable element in the Congresses was that at the Wards, it was instructive that no leader should trespass on other members Ward. In a few instances where such attempts were made, they were successfully challenged, resisted, rebuffed and repelled. What played out in the Wards were exactly the same pattern in the Local Government Area Congresses. At the State Congress, Principal Offices were equitably zoned to the three Senatorial Districts, and eventually to the various Local Government Areas.
The Chairman of APC Congress Committee that came from Abuja, Rt Hon Emmanuel Go’ar, speaking in a lighter mood, said when he entered the venue for the Congress, that is Chidi Ebere Park, he had thought that the people in the place were there for a Christian Crusade as the whole ambience was remarkably calm and peaceful. There were no skirmishes typical of Congresses.
The Local Organizing Committee for the Congresses in Abia State, headed by former Chief Executive Officer of defunct Hallmark Bank, Sir Marc Wabara, worked so assiduously transparently that there was no missing link all through the Congresses.
No doubt, APC in Abia State has set a standard that Political Parties in Nigeria, not only APC, could adopt as their standard template for Congresses.
With the level of equity and inclusiveness that marked APC Congresses in Abia, during which concensus harmoniously prevailed, it is unarguably expected that all Stakeholders of the Party will give maximum support to the Party in 2027 General Election. With the implosion that the Party has witnessed in Abia State, especially from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, should not secure anything less than 70% of total votes cast in 2027.
Abia State Government House which is currently operating outside its constitutional location, will be brought back to Umuahia because APC will surely win in the Governorship election in 2027 and, so, will bring back Government House to Umuahia, as stipulated in Nigeria’s Constitution.
A major malfeasance that the recent APC State Congress revealed was the glaring bitterness of the Labour Party Government in Abia State. The Government will not allow any activity of APC to take place in any Government Official Space. The Government had demolished Abia Hotels at Umuahia because APC had paid for and had a large meeting in the premises of the Hotel.
Sequel to the resolve or policy of Labour Party Government in Abia State not to allow APC anchor any of its engagements on any place controlled by it, APC in Abia State has, circumstantially, been compelled to hire private people’s spaces to host her official engagements. Having her State Congress at Chidi Ebere Park in Umuahia yesterday, Tuesday (Eke) 03-03-2026, was a compelling circumstance the Party has quite unfortunately found itself in. Let it be hoped that the State Government will, like it demolished Abia Hotels in Umuahia for offering her space for APC to have a meeting there, not primitively and wickedly start contemplating what or how to tamper with the Land Titles of late Tranport Mogul, Chief Lawrence Amazu, founder of Chidi Ebere Motors. Let this Labour Party Government in Abia State not always be driven by sheer vindictiveness and vendetta.
Equity Global Reporters Ltd congratulates All Progressives Congress in Abia State on her equitable harmonious peaceful Congresses in the State.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
