APGA working to discourage monetisation of party politics – National chairman

Sly Ezeokenwa, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), says the party leadership is working towards discouraging the monetisation of party politics, especially at the delegates’ level.

“People should build various careers. If you are an officer of the party, you should have meaningful engagement. When people are not productively engaged, it leads to vices in political parties such as trading party platforms and nomination forms for money,” he said during a recent media briefing in Lagos.

According to Ezeokenwa, APGA under the leadership of Charles Soludo, its national leader and Anambra State governor, is working to develop a model of national politics that discourages the monetisation of party structures.

Ezeokenwa, who disclosed that he still handles legal briefs as APGA national chairman, added that politics should not be treated as a business venture, stressing that party officials should have productive engagements outside partisan activities.

On the new Electoral Act, the APGA national chairman noted that ongoing debate on the Art had generated several accusations and counter-accusations, particularly about the intentions of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The Electoral Act is not an act of the APC government. It is an act of the National Assembly comprising APC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), APGA, Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and others,” he said.

He explained that once a bill is passed by the legislature and signed by the President, it becomes binding on all citizens, noting that laws should not be viewed as a partisan initiative.

According to Ezeokenwa, the major controversy after the 2023 elections centred on the transmission of results, which led to calls for electoral reforms by stakeholders. However, he argued that much of the controversy came from a place of inadequate understanding of electoral procedures.

According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced electronic transmission primarily to enhance transparency through the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iREV).

Under the system, presiding officers scan the result sheet after votes are counted and upload it to the portal, allowing citizens to view results in real time. “The essence of sending the results to the viewing portal is for Nigerians anywhere to log on and see the results as they are uploaded.”