The Acting National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Martin Agbaso has boasted that the party would win convincingly the Anambra State governorship election slated for November 18.

Agbaso, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, noted that the achievement of APGA in the state in the past 11 years showed how reliable the party is.

He said APGA under his watch would consolidate on the achievements of past leaders of the party to make APGA an enviable institution rather than developing individuals.

“The founding fathers of APGA have a vision and that is to create a party that will include and give impetus to those locked out of opportunities; it is those for those who have not been able to partake in the governance of this great country.

“All those interested in good governance look forward to APGA, and what has happened in Anambra in eight years of Peter Obi set the state miles and miles apart from other governments in the region.

“He saved so much money, he showed physical presence, took interest in provision of infrastructure for the state, rebuilt the entire education infrastructure, totally overhauled hospitals, created due process in every aspect of governance, made government open and created level playing ground for those who has capacity to perform in Anambra to work.

“It was eight years of successful administration. Now we have three years-and-a-half of successful administration of Willie Obiano and he has followed suit.

“He started by working on the template set up by Peter Obi and he has done reasonably well. So, Anambra is a model case for other states in the Southeast and South-South regions. So when you ask of the preparation ahead of November 18 election, I will tell you that we have no fear because governance in the state is a testimonial for the good work the party has done.

“If the party has not done well, we will have very poor testimonial. Given the fact that APGA has done well in Anambra better than any other party in the region and given similar circumstance on the part of revenue, we expect that APGA will sweep the vote in November,” Agbaso said.

On his rise to the position of APGA Acting National Chairman, Agbaso said the death of the party’s former Acting National Chairman, Ozo Nwabueze Okafor made his emergence unavoidable.

He explained that as the party’s deputy national chairman when Okafor died, it behoved on him to steer the leadership as Victor Ike-Oye remained suspended.

Agbaso, who performed his first official visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, said the electoral body had received the date for the party’s congress and primaries in preparation for the governorship election.

He also said that the party had submitted to INEC the ruling of an Appeal Court sitting in Enugu, which upheld the judgment of the lower court compelling the electoral body to recognise him as the acting national chairman.

Ike-Oye was suspended as APGA Chairman for alleged abuse of office and running the affairs of the party as his personal enterprise against the ideals of the party.

Okafor was appointed to act following Ike-Oye’s suspension but he died on last January 8, paving the way for Agbaso, his deputy who was the highest ranking officer from the same zone (as the party’s constitution demands), to takeover. (NAN)

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