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By Emmanuel Afonne

The Acting National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Martin Agbaso has boasted that the party will win convincingly the Anambra State governorship election slated for Nov. 18, 2017.
Agbaso who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja noted that the achievement of APGA in Anambra 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 3 years and 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 South-East and South-South region, so when you ask of the preparation ahead of Nov. 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 then party’s deputy national chairman when Okafor died, it behoves on him to steer the leadership as Victor Ike-Oye remained suspended.
Agbaso who performed his first official visit to INEC on Friday said the electoral body had received the date for the party’s congress and primaries in preparation for the Anambra governorship election.
He also said that the party had submitted to INEC the ruling of an Appeal Court sitting in Enugu which upheld the ruling of the lower court compelling the electoral body to recognise him as the acting national chairman.
It would be recalled that 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.
Ozo Nwabueze Okafor was appointed to act following Ike-Oye’s suspension but he died on Jan 8, 2017 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)