By Peter Odionyenfe
Sam Egburuonu, a columnist in the Nation, Sunday, Feb 21, 2016, in his column on P.31, among other things made a comparison that doesn’t exist. If not for putting the facts in the right dimension, I wouldn’t be penning all these.
The photos used in the Nation newspaper told the entire story as Apugo was shriveled and greatly dimmed. Apugo in another interview on the Daily Sun was referred to as a prince. Apugo is no prince and of no known kingdom. Much may not be said of his character but just for the sake of modesty, I may save the reader of some lurid details.
Apugo, no doubt has been in Nigerian political activism and known to have thrived in thuggery and like it is in Peter’s Principle, cannot go beyond his political competence seen only in political thuggery. If you are in doubt, let me refer you to an article in a THISDAY Sunday edition in December and the Daily Review Online titled, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, a case study in politics of change written by one Hilda Ifegwu who described Apugo as a quasi aristocrat. Apugo has done his best in politics, and by the standard of today cannot go any further due to dwindling relevance of his political approaches.
Answering these questions below would help us to evaluate Apugo.
What were his successes and achievements? What were his failures? Who did he make or mentor? What other political platforms did he raise? What are his present ratings in APC, nation and state? In answering these questions, you will realize that Apugo is no factor anywhere. He will always be there to make up the numbers.
In the case study of Dr Ogbonnaya Onu referred to, Apugo played a vital role in electing Dr Ogbonnaya Onu through the platform of NRC. After this, he thought he had become the neck that propelled Onu’s head. Dr Onu, a man who made history to become the first democratically elected Governor of Abia state and the Minister of Science and Technology today is an enigma of sorts. It should rightly be noted that the man he attempted to pocket was an academic with internationally accepted and quoted researches including one on the alternative to oil as a major source of energy. Dr Onu as governor demystified Apugo and since then, Apugo is yet to recover, acting at best as an effigy of himself in which his position and status, in the parties of PDP and APC have only been nominal and unnecessarily a glorified BoT member. In the mid nineties, our man dropped names of Senator Mantu and Atiku at any slight discursion in his house but these men have all moved up in the political ladder as Mantu became a senator and deputy senate president while Atiku served two terms as former Vice president. Where is the self styled prince today?
If you are in doubt, what are his noted strong points? Was Apugo in the last constitutional conference in spite of the liberal representative nature where many political and trade agglomerations were considered and they joined in the deliberations. Has Apugo served in any strong committee of APC? Even the Daily Sun newspaper that grants Apugo interviews on Friday, Feb, 20, bestowed lavish awards. Was Apugo nominated even for his nuisance values? What is the state of APC in Abia despite having Apugo as a BoT member? They came a distant third in the March elections and have neither met nor agreed on any strong factor; rather Apugo’s presence has led to quiet fractionalization as Emenike, Ayim Nyerere, Stanley Ohajuruka and chief Obi Onyemobi have all operated different groupings making it impossible to receive Tony Ukasanya, Nkechi Nworgu, Adighije, and other disgruntled PDP decampees into APC.
These revelations may sound immodest referring to Apugo’s family record in public but politics is a game where when you subscribe, your actions are common knowledge and a serious press item. If you remember Achebe’s theory of bringing in the ant-infested firewood that would certainly invite the head nodding of lizards, you will have a clearer picture. The white man’s proverb has severally been quoted on throwing stones not being a good hobby for people living in glass houses, but Apugo, an energetic scrooper has cast stones beyond his capacity and should be called to order and the facts laid straight.
Putting these two on a political scale would certainly be an insult on Ochendo. But if we are compelled to compare, we could remember that Apugo once gambled with contesting the chairmanship of PDP but ended dismally but the man he speaks ill of today has stabilized Apugo’s family, engaging his sons with political appointments and an elective position among many innumerable goodies.
Senator Orji was chief of staff for eight years, later elected governor for the same number of years and now a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so where does Apugo fit in with these towering and intimidating positions and fortunes. Enough is enough; Apugo knows his level, let him keep it.