Abia APC unity under threat after rejection of primary result

From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

The fragile peace and unity in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia chapter, are being threatened by the rejection of the result of the governorship primaries of the party in the state by the campaign organisation of a frontline aspirant, Chief Henry Ikoh.

On Thursday, 13 out of the 18 members of the State Working Committee (SWC) met and adopted the former Minister of State for Science and Technology, Chief Ikoh, as the party’s consensus governorship candidate.

However, hours later, Chief Eric Opah, one of the aspirants, was declared winner of the primaries by the Chairman of the State Governorship Election Committee, Hon. Bartho Lalong, who said Opah scored 126,977 votes while Ikoh got 5,905 votes.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday, the campaign organisation described the announcement as “strange, unacceptable, provocative and inconsistent with the established consensus arrangement reached by the majority of the party’s State Working Committee”.

The statement, titled “The sham called Abia APC governorship primary election and the purported results announced cannot stand”, was signed by the Director-General of the Campaign Organisation, Prince Ikedi Ezekwesiri.

“It is incongruous to the set-down rules and guidelines of our party, APC, regarding the procedures and processes of conducting primary elections, that a clique of desperate politicians should usurp the duties of the party and jettison the laid-down rules and guidelines as contained in the constitution of the party to go on a wide indecent frolic to massage their inglorious ego. Any result(s) generated from a faulty procedural foundation cannot stand.”

The organisation emphasised that no valid process could overturn the earlier position of 13 out of the 18 members of the APC State Working Committee (SWC), who had openly adopted Chief Ikoh as the party’s consensus governorship candidate following the withdrawal of another aspirant, Mascot Uzor Kalu, from the race.

The statement made it clear that the overwhelming endorsement of Ikoh by a majority of members of the SWC reflected the collective will of critical party stakeholders who believed the former minister possesses the political capacity, experience, acceptability and grassroots appeal required to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 governorship election.

“The sudden emergence of a different outcome after a clear consensus had already been reached by the majority of the State Working Committee raises serious questions about transparency, credibility and respect for internal democratic agreements within the party,” the campaign stated.

The statement warned that any attempt to impose candidates against the collective decision of stakeholders could trigger avoidable disaffection within the party and undermine ongoing efforts to reposition the APC as a formidable opposition force in Abia State.

“Our principal, Chief Henry Ikoh, remains committed to party discipline, unity and democratic principles. However, we cannot accept a process that appears to disregard the clearly expressed position of the majority of the party leadership in the state,” the statement added.

The campaign organisation, while alleging foul play in the purported declaration of Opah as winner of the primaries, claimed the former minister remains the popular choice of party members across the state.

It disclosed that it had commenced the process of formally petitioning the national leadership of the APC to review what it termed “the controversial and questionable declaration”.