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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, has declared that the party has no parallel executive in Enugu State, stressing that Chief Ugochukwu Agballah remains the state chairman.
Recall that Justice C.V.C. Ezeugwu of the Enugu State High Court, on August 9, 2024, issued an injunction restraining Agballah from parading himself as the chairman of APC in the state.
Also included in the restraining order, in a suit marked E/548/2024, were Augustine Alumonah, Jude Aniogbo, Moses Eze, Sunday Ugwoke, Ugwu Kanayo, Eze Johnson, Queen Charles, Onyekachi Ezeagu, and Idoko Chikadibia, who were barred from parading as party officials.
The injunction was granted in response to a suit filed by Nwafor Onyeachonam, claiming the acting state chairman of the APC in Enugu State and other party executive members, who sought to prevent Agballah and others from claiming leadership positions within the party.
However, in a statement released on Sunday after the Enugu State APC stakeholders’ meeting held at the party secretariat, on Saturday, Ganduje, represented by the Deputy National Chairman, South, Chief Emma Eneukwu, described the purported suspension of the Agballah-led State Executive Committee of the party as a nullity.
Ganduje stated that the national secretariat of the party was aware that the Peoples Democratic Party was in the business of igniting a crisis in the party, using some members to render it weak and unable to mount serious opposition to the ruling party in the state.
“There is no faction in Enugu APC. I’m the Deputy National Chairman, South, and nobody becomes state chairman in the South without my knowledge.
“The national chairman I’m representing does not know any other person as state chairman other than Chief Ugochukwu Agballah.
“There are people who go to Enugu State Government House to make sure APC is destabilised at all times. It has always been their stock-in-trade and they do this usually close to any election.
“I can assure you that the national secretariat does not even know there is any problem in Enugu APC. It was when I landed in Enugu this morning that I started hearing about one group. But the national chairman recognises Agballah as the state Chairman of APC,” he declared.
In the meeting attended by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji and other notable bigwigs of the party, Ganduje directed those who announced the purported suspension to retrace their steps, apologise and return to the party.
“In the same vein, I urge Agballah and the stakeholders in the state, if any one of them becomes repentant, let’s bring them back. We are building a party to win the election, as we still need everyone on board,” he counselled.
In a communique read at the end of the meeting by Chuka Utazi, the stakeholders upheld the suspension of 20 members who participated in dragging the party to court and the purported suspension of the state chairman without exhausting the internal party mechanism, as provided in the party’s constitution.
The stakeholders affirmed that it would fully participate in the state Local Government election slated for October 5, 2024.
“The meeting frowned on the recent display of gross indiscipline and total disregard to the APC constitution by some misguided party members who met in a hotel and purportedly announced the suspension of the Enugu State chairman of APC, Ugochukwu H. Agballah and others…
“The stakeholders hereby accept the recommendations of the disciplinary committee suspending the actors from the party,” the communiqué read
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