BARELY a week after a state high court
presided over by Justice Hope Ozor, upheld
the April 8 National Convention of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) that
threw up Maxi Okwu as the party’s national
chairman, leader of a faction of the party,
Victor Umeh, has sought the intervention of
the leader of the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB), Raph Uwazurike.
The Guardian gathered that Umeh sent a
delegation led by a party elder, Onwuka
Ukwa, to Uwazuruike, asking him to
mediate in the protracted leadership crisis
bedeviling APGA so as maintain the vision
and principles of the founding fathers of the
party.
Confirming the delegation’s visit to The
Guardian over the phone, the MASSOB leader
said “I do not know from which angle you
are coming from, the fact is nobody does
not want peace,” adding “whatever
transpired in the past should not be allowed
to scuttle the search for peace.”
Uwazuruike added that it was a good thing
that political players in APGA have
recognised the fact that they have to play as
a united team to make progress, stressing
that he would do his best to try to reconcile
the parties to the “brotherly disagreement.”
But reacting to the development, APGA
Chairman, Okwu, said: “I am aware; I got the
tip of the visit to Uwazuruike. Remember I
extended an olive branch to Umeh. I do so
not out of fear but from the position of
strength; I do so also because I believe all of
us are needed. I went to Chekwas (Okorie)
who you know, as the founding chairman
was aggrieved and reconciled with him. He
is still in UPP, (United Progressives Party) and
most likely would remain there.
“But it is better that we bury the hatchet. So
that being the case, if there is any way we
can reconcile this matter, I am for it but then
it must be based on the principle that the
sanctity of the (April 8, 2013) convention
would not be affected”.
On his feeling about Umeh’s recourse to
Uwazuruike instead of direct contact with
him, Okwu noted that being a factor in Igbo
land, Uwazuruike was welcome as a
mediator, recalling that “it has happened
before; I recall the saga between Umeh,
Chekwas and me, as opinion moulders,
three of us were approached (by
Uwazuruike) then”.
Reiterating his acceptance of “any
intervention if it would bring lasting peace
in APGA” Okwu said such peace was direly
needed to further his programmes of
reconciliation, rapprochement and
rebuilding, assuring that “there would be
soft landing for Umeh, I agree with that; I
have promised him soft landing
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=123220:umeh-wants-massob-to-wade-into-apga-crisis&catid=1:national&Itemid=559