Obi may rejoin APGA, Says Chair of Reconciliation Panel

 Charles Onyekamuo in Awka
The immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, who left his former party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) shortly after his successor, Willie Obiano took over in 2014 may rejoin the party again.

A former Commissioner  for Information in the Peter Obi administration and now Chairman of APGA Reconciliation Committee, Chief Maja Umeh, told  journalists in Awka yesterday that the return of Obi to the party he helped to nurture to national prominence was imminent.

 Obi had in a private radio in the state about 24 hours earlier said he had to ensure that his successor, Governor Willie Obiano, succeeds in office, adding that there was nothing between them to warrant working against him.
“I will be the first to be blamed if Governor Obiano fails because I was the person that presented him to the people of the state,” he had said.

On October 7, 2014 the former governor had in a brief  ceremony in which national leaders of PDP attended defected to the party at his Onitsha residence. No reason was given for his action.
But now, Obi believed to be nursing the ambition to participate in the yet to be rescheduled Anambra central senatorial re-run election and whose campaign posters are every where in the state’s central zone is also believed to be the choice of PDP in the election when ever it holds.

 The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is already challenging at the Appeal court, the decision of the the Abuja High Court to include the PDP in  the rerun poll postponed indefinitely by the commission on March1,2016.
But Thursday, the APGA conciliator said that  Bishops and traditional rulers in the state had been  making efforts to bring Obi back to APGA.

 The purpose he said was to bring genuine reconciliation between Obi and Obiano.
He said it was not within the purview of his assignment to reconcile party members who had joined other parties, but that it was imperative to bring Obi back to the APGA.

 “It’s not within my purview to reconcile those who had left APGA, but it is proper to bring Obi back to our party”, he said.
“He (Obi) has shown demonstrable statesmanship and support for governor Obiano, it’s proper to bring him back to APGA.
“ I know that the clergy and our royal fathers are working hard to achieve this. And I don’t think it’s a difficult task to achieve.