From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The crisis rocking the Enugu State All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend took a turn for the worse as some founding members and stakeholders of the party passed a vote of no confidence on the state Chairman, Ugo Agballa.
The stakeholders said they were dissatisfied with the Chairman’s handling of the affairs of the party, adding that the series of indiscriminate suspensions slammed on key members in the state were inimical to the growth of the party in the state.
The stakeholders, who held a unification meeting in Enugu, however, passed a vote of confidence on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje and the Federal Commissioner representing Enugu State in the Federal Character Commission, Ginika Tor for their commitment towards the growth.
The decision of the stakeholders was part of resolutions reached after a voice vote which received total affirmation by participants drawn from the 17 local government areas of the state.
During the meeting, participants went down memory lane on how the party was nurtured by those unconstitutionally suspended by Agballah to a level where it became attractive to all
The stakeholders, in their separate speeches during the state APC grassroots constituency meeting, expressed deep concern that rather than taking the party to the next level the Agballah-led administration has destroyed the party through the unconstitutional suspension of founding fathers of the state like former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, ex-governor Sullivan Chime, former Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, former speaker of the Enugu State of Assembly, Eugene Odoh and recently Ginika Tor.
Addressing the stakeholders, the convener of the meeting, Ginika Tor described Enugu APC under Agballah as a suspension party, saying that they would no longer fold their arms and allow strangers who joined them from other political parties to destroy the APC through illegal suspensions.
Tor maintained that it was high time all the purportedly suspended stakeholders came back and rebuilt their party for the success of president Tinubu and the APC-led federal government.
“We must possess our possession, so do not be discouraged by the activities of those currently piloting the affairs of the party who do not wish the party well, we must say enough is enough, how could somebody who says he wishes the party well keep suspending people who laboured for the party” she stated.
Also speaking, the immediate past chairman of the party and moderator of the meeting, Dr Ben Nwoye said it is unthinkable for anybody to announce the suspension of big wigs of the party.
He condemned in its entirety the idea of piloting the affairs of the party as a private enterprise by the incumbent chairman, calling on the genuine members to come back and rebuild their political house.
Nwoye noted that the vote of no confidence on the chairman has shown that all is not well with the party in the state and needed the urgent intervention of the national secretariat to salvage the situation.