Arondizuogu Patriotic Union (APU) is the umbrella organisation of all Arondizuogu

Arondizuogu

Arondizuogu is a town inhabited by the Igbo subgroup, the Aro people in the Imo State of Nigeria.- Geographical Location :Arondizuogu is a group of sprawling communities with the largest area located in the land obtained from Umualaoma town . Some believe that this land was obtained by begging,...

 communities in Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 and the Diaspora. Established in 1932 in Aba

Aba, Nigeria

Aba is a city and a big trading center in Abia State, southern Nigeria, located on the Aba River. Aba was established by the Igbo People of Nigeria as a market town and then later a military post was placed there by the British colonial administration in 1901...

, APU is one of the earliest and most enduring organs of community development set up by an Igbo

Igbo people

Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 clan in colonial Nigeria

Colonial Nigeria

Colonial Nigeria ran from 1800 till October 1, 1960 when it gained independence. Up until the amalgamation of 1914, the country's constituting parts existed as separate British protectorates.-Abolition of the Slave Trade:...

. The youngmen of Arondizuogu who laid the foundation for APU left their homes for the first time in the 1920s and early 1930s to seek a better life in the emerging urban centres of colonial Nigeria. They found themselves in social, economic and political environments different from the life they knew at home. Refusing to be intimated or alienated, they held on to that deep feeling of love for the community with which they grew up. They assembled at Aba on October 8, 1932 to aggregate ideas on how best to convey the concomitants of modern development with which they were surrounded in the city (such as wide roads, schools, hospitals, post offices, portable water, electricity, court rooms, etc)to their village community.

Objectives

The objectives of APU since 1932 have since expanded to include the changing concerns of its massive membership spread around the world. Over the years, APU, at the national level, has been led by a succession of twelve Presidents General: Rev Chima Nwana who served from 1933 to 1947 with a succession of secretaries that included John Okereke, Louis Nwakire Obioha and Egboo Nwankwo; Mazi David O. Mbadiwe (who had served as the President pro tempore of the Oct. 1932 inaugural convention) and was elected to serve as APU President from 1947 to 1949 when the National College dispute created an impasse between Ndianiche (from where the president hailed) and APU; Mazi A.N Igbo who was appointed to serve as President of APU from 1950 to 1953; and Mazi D.T. Okoro took over as APU President and served from 1953 to Jan 15 1966 when all ethnic unions were proscribed by military decree. Between 1966 1974 the APU was in limbo. However, the leadership role of the APU during this interregnum was carried out by other organisations. First, (between 1967 and 1970) by the Arondizuogu War Emergency Council, one of the impromptu bodies formed in various clans at the instance of the authorities of the short-lived Republic of Biafra. Second, (between 1971 and 1974) by the 1st Arondizuogu Community Council set up in consequence of the Divisional Administration Edict passed ion 1971 by the Government of the old East Central State. Mazi R.O. Ikoro served as chairman of both the Arondizuogu War Emergency Council and the Arondizuogu Community Council.

Present

After the Nigerian Civil War, Mazi Ben Ozonede Onwuka became the Union’s President following the resuscitation of APU in 1974 and served till 1976; Mazi Remy Nwafor Unegbu who was nicknamed the "Perfect Peacemaker" served as President - General of APU from 1976 till he died in office in 1981, Mazi Reuben O. Egbuonu, who served under Unegbu as 1st Vice President, succeeded him and served as President till 1984 when he lost the APU Presidency to an Aba based business mogul Chief Clement Moore Obioha who was succeeded in 1991 by Dr. Chukwuma Nkemdi Obioha. In 1993, Chief Joel West Umeh took over from Chukwuma Obioha and served as President till 1996; Chief L. Iheanyi Okoro took over in 1996 and served first as Chairman of a Caretaker Committee of the National Executive of APU and, later, as President General by acclamation; and Mazi Oguguo Okereke served as President General of the union between 2000 and 2008.The current President - General of APU is Hon. Barr. Uche Ohia from Ndiakeme Ohiauchu. He was elected on October 25, 2008.