Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Abuja — APC leaders in Enugu State stormed the party’s national secretariat, “Buhari House,” yesterday and asked that the State Working Committee, which is run by Mr. Ugochukwu Agballah, be fired immediately.
Senator Ken Nnamani, a former Senate president and chair of the party’s defunct Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), served as the group’s leader.
Others include the former governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime; the former minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; retired general J.O.J. Okoloagu Board; senators Ayogu Eze and Gbazuagu Gbazuagu; and the former speaker of the State Assembly, Eugene Odo.
Others include Mr. Osita Okechukwu, Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Ifeanyi Nwoga, and Onyemuche Nnamani.
In their petition titled “Appeal and petition for urgent intervention to rescue the APC in Enugu from its downward spiral, implosion, and imminent collapse,” sent to Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the APC National Chairman, the petitioners noted that a significant crack emerged during the most recent state Congress when Mr. Ugochukwu Agballah was covertly maneuvered into the party to become its state chairman, much to the consternation and vehement opposition of a majority of
The petition stated in part: “The Chairman may wish to recall that H.E. Sullivan Chime, the immediately previous governor of Enugu State, led a protest of stakeholders/elders of Enugu State All Progressives Congress Chapter against the emergence of Ugo Agaballah as State Chairman on two grounds: “Non-membership of Ugo Agballah and controversial and irregular process of Ugo Agballah’s emergenc
A few Party leaders gave Ugo Agballah the benefit of the doubt and gave him a Certificate of Return. These few leaders believed that the Party needed to alter course immediately and have a dynamic leader who could finally bring the Party together in the state. Unfortunately, the new Chairman wasted no time in demonstrating that the majority leaders who had warned against his emergence were right.
“He brought in his supporters and instantly and methodically undermined the heart of the Party structure. He insulted the Party officials, including the handful who had supported his ascent, utterly disregarded them in decisions pertaining to how the Party should be conducted in the state, and has been acting as a Sole Administrator or even a Dictator! As a result, an increasing number of significant leaders and people have left the Party.
“The Party is disintegrating and about to implode,” As things are, it is not in a position to be competitive in the general elections. To prevent the state party from completely collapsing and becoming an embarrassment to the state, the leaders now believe that a bold solution is required.
The current Chairman has alienated and lost the confidence of the majority of the state party’s members and its leadership. The goal is to unify the party through the appointment of a Caretaker Chairman.
Very critically, it should be remembered that he was constitutionally ousted on August 19, 2022, by an overwhelming majority of party members in his ward in the Udi/Agbudu LGA of Enugu State.
We implore the NWC to quickly remove Mr. Ugochukwu Agballa from office and install a Caretaker Chairman who should not be a member of the current State Executive Committee in order to prevent the party in Enugu State from completely collapsing. They claimed that there was still a potential for the party to turn things around and compete in the general elections.
