Anambra govt says Peter Obi destroyed APGA: What the facts show
The Anambra State Government has accused former governor Peter Obi of working to destroy the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the party that produced him as governor.
The accusation came on Monday, October 5, as the state government urged APGA supporters to resist Obi and his Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2027 general election.
In a post titled “A Betrayal Alert for Ndi APGA”, the government said Obi had been on a mission to destroy APGA since leaving the party in 2014.
“Since 2014, Obi has had one mission: to destroy the party that made him,” the government said.
It also urged voters not to support Obi and the NDC, declaring that “a vote for Peter Obi and the NDC is a vote to kill APGA.”
The allegation raises an important question: Did Peter Obi actually destroy APGA, or does the history of the party tell a more complicated story?
A look at Obi’s relationship with APGA, what happened after he left and the party’s electoral record provides some context.
Peter Obi helped build APGA’s political strength
Peter Obi’s political history is closely linked to APGA.
He contested the 2003 Anambra governorship election on the party’s platform and eventually became governor after a prolonged legal battle over the election.
Obi was sworn in as governor in March 2006. Despite an impeachment in November of that year, he was later reinstated after the courts overturned the action.
He subsequently won the 2010 governorship election on the APGA platform, defeating candidates including former governor Chris Ngige and former Central Bank governor Charles Soludo.
Obi’s role in strengthening APGA was recognised by the party itself.
In January 2014, APGA appointed him its national leader and chairman of the Board of Trustees, replacing the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Then-national chairman Victor Umeh said the decision was based on Obi’s contributions to keeping the party alive and ensuring that an APGA candidate succeeded him as governor.
That succession became Willie Obiano, who won the 2013 Anambra governorship election and was sworn in as governor in March 2014.
The sequence is significant.
Obi did not simply inherit an already dominant APGA.
His emergence as governor and his subsequent re-election helped establish the party as a major political force in Anambra. APGA has remained in control of the state’s governorship since Obi’s return to office in 2006.
Obi left APGA in 2014
The relationship between Obi and APGA changed several months after he handed over to Obiano.
In August 2014, Obi resigned as APGA national leader and chairman of its Board of Trustees.
In his resignation letter, he cited personal and family reasons and said he remained an ordinary member of the party.
He later joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
That move marked the beginning of Obi’s gradual transition from a state-based APGA politician to a national political figure.
He eventually left the PDP in 2022 and contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party.
He later moved through the African Democratic Congress before joining the NDC, under which he is now the presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
So, one part of the Anambra government’s argument is factual: Obi left APGA and subsequently built his political career outside the party.
But whether that amounts to destroying APGA requires a look at what happened after his departure.
APGA survived after Obi left
The electoral record does not show APGA collapsing immediately after Obi’s departure.
Instead, the party remained in control of Anambra.
Obi’s successor, Willie Obiano, won the 2013 governorship election on the APGA platform and was re-elected in 2017.
Obiano’s 2017 victory was particularly significant. He won 234,071 votes, defeating his closest challenger, Tony Nwoye of the All Progressives Congress, who polled 98,752 votes. APGA’s victory meant the party retained control of the state four years after Obi had left its leadership.
The party also maintained significant representation in the state legislature and other elections during the period.
This does not fit neatly with the idea that Obi’s departure simply destroyed APGA.
The party remained the governing party in Anambra and continued to win elections.
But Obi’s political influence grew outside APGA
There is another side to the story.
While APGA continued to govern Anambra, Obi’s own political influence increasingly developed outside the party.
This became particularly obvious during the 2023 presidential election.
Obi contested on the Labour Party platform and won Anambra by a huge margin, receiving 584,621 votes according to the declared results, while APGA’s presidential candidate, Peter Umeadi, received 7,285 votes.
The result demonstrated that Obi’s personal political following in Anambra could operate independently of APGA.
That is an important distinction.
Obi did not need APGA to retain a significant following among voters in the state.
At the same time, the result does not establish that Obi destroyed APGA.
It shows that a large number of Anambra voters who supported an APGA governor at the state level could support Obi under another party at the presidential level.
APGA’s dominance has weakened over time
APGA has also faced growing competition.
The party’s long dominance in Anambra politics has continued, but its control of legislative seats has not remained as overwhelming as it was in earlier years.
Opposition parties have increasingly won seats in the state, while Obi’s emergence as a national political figure has changed the dynamics of presidential politics in the South-East.
That means there is evidence for a more nuanced argument: Obi’s departure separated his political brand from APGA, while APGA itself continued to survive and govern Anambra.
Whether his later political activities directly caused APGA’s decline, however, is much harder to establish.
Political parties can lose electoral strength for several reasons, including leadership changes, internal disputes, candidate selection, voter preferences and competition from rival parties.
The available electoral record alone cannot attribute APGA’s subsequent fortunes entirely to Obi.
So, did Peter Obi destroy APGA?
The facts provide a more complicated picture than the Anambra government’s latest accusation suggests.
Obi was a major figure in APGA’s rise in Anambra.
He contested and won the governorship under the party, was later appointed its national leader and Board of Trustees chairman, and helped the party retain the governorship through his successor, Willie Obiano.
He then left APGA in 2014 and moved into national politics through other parties.
APGA, however, did not collapse after his departure.
It remained in control of Anambra through Obiano and later Soludo, while continuing to win elections and maintain a significant political presence in the state. TheCable’s review of the party’s history describes APGA as having remained in control of Anambra since 2006.
At the same time, Obi’s 2023 presidential performance in Anambra showed that his political following had become capable of operating independently of APGA.
Therefore, the available facts do not establish that Obi single-handedly destroyed APGA.
They show something more complicated: Obi helped build APGA’s dominance in Anambra, left the party in 2014, and later developed a powerful political following outside it, while APGA survived and remained in power in the state.
The question of whether Obi’s subsequent political activities weakened APGA is therefore a matter of political interpretation rather than a conclusion that can be established simply by looking at the party’s electoral history.
For now, the record suggests that Peter Obi and APGA’s political histories are deeply intertwined — but the claim that Obi destroyed the party requires more evidence than the fact that he left it.