The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has unveiled sweeping internal reforms aimed at ending transactional politics and strengthening internal democracy at its maiden South-East zonal stakeholders’ summit held in Awka, Anambra State.
The summit, the first of its kind in over two decades, brought together party leaders, elected officials, and aspirants as APGA moved to restructure its internal processes, funding system, and candidate selection procedures.
Anambra State Governor and party leader, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, said the reforms were designed to reposition APGA as an ideology-driven political institution, rather than what he described as a “transactional platform.”
He said the era of monetised primaries and inducement-based politics within the party was over.
“We are building a political party, not a trading post,” Soludo said. “The era of trade-by-barter politics in APGA is over.”
Open Ballot System
The governor announced the full adoption of the Option A4 open-ballot system for all primary elections, alongside the digitisation of the party’s membership register, measures he said would improve transparency and internal credibility.
Under the Option A4 system, delegates publicly line up behind their preferred candidates during primaries.
Soludo also directed that aspirants must limit themselves to a single political ambition at a time and warned against lobbying party officials in private residences, insisting that all engagements must be conducted through official party channels.
He further proposed a return to a structured dues-based funding model, with a committee to be set up to design a sustainable financial framework to reduce reliance on private financiers.
Code of Conduct
APGA’s National Chairman, Sly Ezeokenwa, also announced a new code of conduct for party operations, including digital registration, direct primaries, abolition of bundled nomination forms, and a two-stage screening process for aspirants.
He said party executives would be required to maintain neutrality during primaries, adding that any official wishing to openly support a candidate must resign their position first.
Ezeokenwa also banned financial inducements during party primaries, including cash gifts or disguised payments to delegates.
South-East National Vice Chairman, Augustine Ehiemere, said inadequate funding had long affected the party’s operations and called for structured financial contributions from beneficiaries of the party platform.
Stakeholders, including Deputy Governor Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim and Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Somtochukwu Udeze, attended the summit.
The reforms are part of APGA’s broader effort to reposition itself as a more disciplined and institutionally driven political party in Nigeria’s evolving democratic landscape.