Prominent international businessman, Chief Edochie Onuora, has dismissed speculations that his recent alignment with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is a strategic move to challenge his friend, Chief Peter Macpee Aniekwe, for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with multichannels247, Chief Onuora clarified that his decision to join APGA was driven by a commitment to entrenching good values in leadership and governance rather than political ambition.
“It is not about defection or positioning but about vision and entrenching good values in any system one chooses to operate in,” he stated.
The businessman, who owns a vast multinational business empire, emphasized that he could not associate with a system lacking decency, respect for rules, and collective enthusiasm. According to him, APGA embodies the leadership qualities he upholds—candor, creativity, collectivity, and cooperation.
“When people bicker in a system, they get suffocated and fizzle away over time. In APGA, I find decency, respect for rules, orderliness, consultations, cooperation, and oneness of purpose. These eclectic values resonate well with my personal ethos, world view, and Christian upbringing,” he added.
Chief Onuora lauded Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s achievements over the past three and a half years, describing them as near-miraculous. He highlighted the governor’s infrastructural and economic strides, as well as his innovative approach to security, which he likened to “supernatural conjectures.”
“Only a calm, God-fearing, and gifted man like Governor Soludo can tame Anambra state of vices and virulences and restore peace and prosperity through well-articulated intellectual parameters for societal coherence,” he declared.
Addressing concerns about whether his political shift had strained his long-standing friendship with Chief Aniekwe, who is representing Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, under the Labour Party, Chief Onuora dismissed any notion of discord. Quoting Shakespeare’s Macbeth, he reaffirmed his trust in his friend and reiterated that politics should be about consensus-building rather than personal conflicts.
“Politics is not about quarrels but about consensus building and service delivery. Like I said earlier, I am an international businessman and do not depend on government for survival. I am an employer of labour. I pay my bills and pick the bills of others as God would help me do consistently,” he said.
While acknowledging the unpredictable nature of politics, he maintained that his relationship with Chief Aniekwe remains intact. “The political terrain is vast, wide, infinite, but unpredictable because of human frailties. Politics is a game of give and take, pick and choose, join and adjust to any given environment,” he concluded.
With these statements, Chief Onuora has made it clear that his move to APGA is a matter of principle rather than political maneuvering, and that his friendship with Chief Aniekwe remains unwavering despite their different party affiliations.
