Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Enugu State Chapter, Mr Alphonsus Nwafor, says the party National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, does not participate in illegal gathering.
Nwafor, who stated this in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Enugu, said there was nothing like the representation of Ganduje in the charade as convoked on August 24, 2024, in Enugu.
“The National Chairman of our party does not participate in illegal gatherings and has never found himself in the wrong side of the law as was attended in Bishop Onyeabor street, GRA, Enugu.
“We have taken note of the aberration and impersonations that took place on Saturday August 24 in our party office at GRA Enugu, where the impudent Ugochukwu Agballah converged with co-travellers despite the court order, prohibiting him from such impersonation.
“The impunity was further perpetuated with the dropping of the name of the National Chairman of our Party, Dr Abdulahi Ganduje as being represented by Emma Eneukwu.
“In their premeditated plot to sink the APC in Enugu state, the former leadership of the party in Enugu state under Barrister Ugochukwu Agballah ensured that there was no post election organisation of intra-party activities to improve on its last electoral performance.
“Which was abysmally poor when compared to the other two general elections that the APC has participated in since it’s formation in 2014,” he said.
Nwafor added that the mission of very last leadership of APC in Enugu came to disorganised the party and crumble it as dictated by their paymaster.
He said that a breakdown of the party’s fortune and disaster from 2015 to 2023 presidential elections would validate their claims.
He said: “In the 2015 Presidential election in Enugu state, our party, the APC scored 14,157 votes which represented 2.47 percent. In the 2019 Presidential election, the APC gathered 54, 423 votes, an increase to 12.93 percent.
“But with the party’s slide into the bad hands of Ugochukwu Agballah and his mafia group, the APC growing fortunes waned in Enugu state with the party scoring only 4,772 votes, representing only 1.04 percent, in the 2023 Presidential election in the Enugu state.
“It was so shameful for our party members because even in Anambra state, where the presidential candidate of the Labour Party came from, the APC got higher voters (5,101) in Anambra than Enugu state APC.
“Thus, with the above performance index, it’s very discernible that the Enugu state APC under the watch of the then chairman (Barr Ugochukwu Agballa) failed woefully.
“There is no better word to describe Barrister Ugochukwu Agballah in APC than a ‘mole,’ the very word he had used on leaders and other members of the party and made his followers to believe that those he perceived as enemies of the APC were the cause of the misfortunes in the party.
“At the peak of his draconian leadership, Ugochukwu Agballah suspended the foundation leaders of the party such as the pioneer Chairman of APC in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Governor Sullivan Chime, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Chief Flavour Eze (his kinsman who nominated him as party chairman);
“Osita Okechukwu, the former DG of Voice of Nigeria (VON); the former Speaker of Enugu state House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh; Lady Ginika Tor, just to mention but a few of the political strong weights in Enugu politics, who Agballah was afraid of their influence.
“What made the purported suspension of the leaders of the party more absurd was not just about his ambitious party conquest, but that the suspension came in the middle of the presidential campaign of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu which adversely.
“We further note the Justice CVC Ezeugwu of Enugu State High Court session of August 27 2024, where Ugochukwu Agballah through his lawyers failed woefully to stop proceedings in his trial.
“And was unable to convince the court that it does not have jurisdiction to entertain the application with which he was restrained from parading himself as the Chairman of the APC in Enugu state.
“The general public are hereby notified that that the court order restraining Ugochukwu Agballah and co. from parading themselves as executive members of the Enugu state Chapter of the APC is still in force. The National secretariate of the APC and the general public are therefore updated with this development.
“At this moment, the unification of our party is most Paramount to us and we urge our teaming members, both old and new members to embrace the new and refreshing breeze in our party, particularly as we hold stakeholders meeting in September. he said.”
