This Quick Reconciliation Initiated By Rt Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu Is Capable Of Guaranteeing The Electoral Fortunes Of APC In Abia State.
Thursday (Eke) 28-05-2026.
What appeared to have been the misfortune of Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State during and after 2023 general election apparently became advantageous to All Progressives Congress in the State.
Prior to 2023, the only senatorial district that APC was in operational existence in Abia State was Abia-North, where the Party was able to have produced a Senator, two Members of House of Representatives, and one or two Members of Abia State House of Assembly. In both Abia-Central and Abia-South Senatorial Districts, there was hardly any trace of the Party’s quantifiable existence.
Like it has been stated earlier, what appeared to have been the mismanagement of the fortunes of PDP in Abia State in 2023, by means of undue exploitation and deceit of Aspirants, led to implosion in the Party. That PDP failed in the general election of 2023 in Abia State was the making of aggrieved Members of the Party in the State.
Ordinarily-speaking, many PDP Members in Abia State who opted to leave the Party after 2023, would have been expected to move to Labour Party which is the Party in power in the State. However, a good number had a perception that Labour Party in the State was characteristically associated with vindictiveness and vendetta. So, about 75 or even 80% of former PDP Members in Abia State defected to All Progressives Congress, APC. That gave a groundswell to membership and strength of APC in Abia State.
As it has always been a characteristic feature of Political Parties, APC conducted her Primary Elections just recently. Quite many of the Aspirants feel badly injured. Some of them cry out that they were not given a level playing field and, so, would not accept whatever is announced as the result of the Primary Elections involving them.
There lies the anarchy, a very destructive probability that has an endless capability to ruin the chances of a Political Party!
That is why some former experienced altruistic Party Administrators would always call for caution during Party Primary Elections. If a Primary Election is, as it is done in many cases, manipulated to the disadvantage of an Aspirant and he or she loses, the Aspirant can afford to endure his or her loss, as long as he or she was not coerced into excruciating financial exploitation by Party Officials or their Agents. But if the contrary was the case, the Aspirant could go to any length, with his or her supporters, even to the unimaginable, to give irreparably devastating cracks on the walls of the Party. That, like it happened to PDP, would become its albatross.
This is why those elected or appointed to handle the internal affairs of a Political Party should not be greedy, voracious and insatiable elements. This is important because their actions could be capable of destroying the future of a Political Party they were privileged to handle.
It is, therefore, interesting and assuring to note that the Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives and Leader of APC in Abia State, The Rt Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu, CFR, being sensitive to the very precarious situation many Aspirants in the recently concluded Primary Elections, which could be a time bomb anxiously waiting to explode, has arranged a meeting with all the Aspirants, both winners and losers, today in Abuja.
That is what leadership is all about. In the United States of America, Leaders like Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party, about 1860s, Theodore Roosevelt of the Republican Party, circa 1912, and Franklin D. Roosevelt of the Democratic Party, in the 1930s had, at one time or another, risen to the challenge of saving their Political Parties from collapse, by showing exceptional leadership credentials and initiatives.
Those who lost but strongly feel their loss was out of undue manipulation should have their feelings assuaged. Those who were declared winners, should be made to appreciate the fact that they need the co-operation of the ‘unsuccessful Aspirants’ in order to drive home success in the main election which constitutes the nitty-gritty of the whole exercise.
If a Political Party does not win in an election, every position occupied in the Party becomes of no use, even money forced out of the pockets of Aspirants becomes a deadly curse to the family of the exploiters.
In the meeting of today, it is expected that the Deputy Speaker will display enough patience and tolerance to listen to the aggrieved Aspirants, through whose honest expressions meaningful and lasting understanding could be reached.
As for the the dissatisfied Aspirants, they should not fail to appreciate the fact that in Politics, there is always tomorrow. What one does not get today, a better opportunity could occur tomorrow.
It is hoped that at the end of today’s meeting, APC in Abia State will be more united and formidable.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Chairman of defunct United Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP, in Abia State, and former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State.
