IBIDA AND THE APGA MISSION

IBIDA AND THE APGA MISSION

By IfeanyiChukwu Afuba

As with most organisations, there are strong breed members of the APGA who stand out. They stand out for their uncommon spirit of membership; for their high degree of commitment; indeed for the way they uphold the principles of the party. In the APGA political parlance, these core members are also known as those who will not defect to other political parties when elected into public office. They will not use and dump the party. A list of such steadfast party stalwarts today would read Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Senator Victor Umeh, Hon Peter Ibida….

Hon Ibida is presently serving out the second term of a vibrant representation of Njikoka 2 constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly.

For Ibida who believes that politics is about service to the people, the raison d’ etre of the APGA becomes easy enough to connect with.

‘You don’t play politics in a vacuum,’ he says. ‘You’re a member of a society. The society is your roots, your heritage that shapes your view of the world. Ordinarily, as a citizen, you have a share in the task of making the society better. How much more as a player in the organised town hall which is politics?’

The people’s legislator, as he is often referred to by his supporters, is of the conviction that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is the fit and viable platform for the political mission demanded by the times.

In practical terms, this is a two layered agenda. The first plank is the local or home front of development. ‘Anambra is our base, our home. And I give thanks to God that the APGA manifesto started operating in Anambra State. In the past sixteen years of APGA rule, development replaced crisis. The story of Anambra changed from political rascality, closure of schools and workers’ strikes to growth of the economy, peace and provision of infrastructures. Let me add that this development goal guided my vision of my work as an APGA legislator.’

The second dimension of the call embraces the national question. How can Nigeria be made to work? ‘We all know the situation in the country. We had a civil war over fifty years ago. Today, we still have secession agitations and other disagreements in the running of Nigeria. APGA has a programme for stability, equity and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria,’ Ibida emphasizes.

APGA had been registered in 2002 to aggregate progressive tendencies and offer a regional balance to national politics. It’s formation cut across party loyalties in the southeast at the time.

The appeal of the party and his own sense of responsibility have continued to spur on Ibida. In the past ten years, he has emerged as a notable chieftain of the party. His efforts at building the party especially in his own Njikoka Local Government Area have been severally acknowledged. His choice as the Chairman of the local government campaign council of the 2021 governorship election was widely applauded. APGA won the local government comfortably.

There is little surprise that there is presently a clamour for Peter Chima Ibida to go to the House of Representatives in 2023. The calls are growing, the need ever more pressing. Like the poet and the River Nun, it’s probably the case that Ibida will heed the request of APGA faithfuls.