The founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Chekwas Okorie, has revealed that the protracted crisis in the party denied the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra the opportunity of becoming a lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

The separatist leader Is currently standing trial for treason and perpetuating falsehoods against the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, mainly through broadcasts on the controversial Radio Biafra outlet and social media.

Although he has repeatedly pleaded not guilty, the IPOB leader has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since June 2021 when he was forcibly repatriated to the country from Kenya.

The court also turned down Kanu’s application seeking to either be put on house arrest or transferred to a custodial centre pending the hearing and determination of his trial.

Reacting to Kanu’s travail, Okorie told Saturday PUNCH that things might perhaps have turned out differently if the leadership crisis rocking the party for over 22 years had not put paid to the Biafra agitator’s political ambition in 2004.

The APGA pioneer chairman described Kanu as a passionate and determined young man when he pronounced him as the chairman of the party in the United Kingdom.

He said, “Let me tell you this. Maybe it will be new to many people. If APGA did not have crisis, there would have been no IPOB. I will tell you why. I was the one who appointed Nnamdi Kanu as chairman of APGA in UK in 2002. He was very young and sees me as a father. I saw his passion.

“His interest was to go for House of Reps in his constituency come 2007 election. By then, the opportunity for 2003 had gone. So, I said that for the passion and commitment he showed in this party, I earned the right to offer him a choice of first refusal for that constituency ticket for 2007.

“But as I told you earlier, a crisis broke out in December 2004. So, there was no 2007 anymore. Everybody, including Nnamdi Kanu, led the delegations from the UK because we had APGA in Europe, America and other places. (Saturday PUNCH: Text, Excluding Headline)

Update news