Merger fallout: UPP woos Gov Obi

Category: Inside politics Published on Thursday, 07 February 2013 05:00

Following Tuesday’s endorsement of merger between the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the United Progressive Party (UPP) led by chief Chekwas Okorie has started wooing Governor Peter Obi to join the party to remain politically relevant.

Governorship aspirant on the platform of UPP, Okey Umeano told newsmen in Awka governor Obi at present has no political party following the involvement of APGA led by Rochas Okorocha in the merger arrangement.

“You can see that APGA is already dead in Anambra State. If UPP takes over in Anambra State, the mass movement into UPP will make it to capture the state and capitalize on that to spread of igbos in other areas to win nationally.”

He stated that UPP was formed out of a political calculation to give the South East geo-political zone a base and spread in other parts of the country.

He said sponsoring Alhaji Sadiq Masalla against Victor Umeh was a miscalculation as the tenure of Masalla like Umeh expired since 2010.

He said the Independent Nationasl Electoral Commission (INEC) would not recognize Masalla as the acting national chairman of APGA based on what he described as an illegal mandate.

Umeano  said he believes Umeh went for the merger to avoid having APGA deregistered adding that Umeh’s legal bid to arrest judgment of the high court which declared that he was not the national chairman of APGA was on account of the fact that he has no letter to present to INEC that he is still the national chairman of APGA.

Umeano described the merger as the coming together of strange fellows adding that UPP is not interested in going for any merger as the purpose of registering UPP after APGA’s alleged engineered crisis was to give the South East a power base.