BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
Former Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Enugu State Chapter, Dr
Ben Nwoye has insisted that the recent suspension of some of his party’s leaders in the Southeast geo-political zone including himself was authored by job seekers, saying they want to reap where they did not sow.
To this end, Dr Nwoye has urged the affected members to disregard the purported suspension and ratification as the action is unconstitutional.
He described the ratification of the purported suspension of bigwigs of the party including a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, ex-governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeman, among others, as a smokescreen.
It would be recalled that Southeast leadership of the APC had announced the purported suspension of the Chief Whip of the Senate, Chief Oji Uzo kalu, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, Ex Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, among others for alleged anti-party activities.
Nwoye, a Federal Commissioner representing Southeast in the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) noted that the suspensions which was announced by Southeast leadership of the party led by Dr. Ijeomah Aridiogu was an attempt to cover their anti party activities during the 2023 general elections, stressing “it is case of kettle calling pot black”
He alleged that Aridiogu and the APC Chairman in Enugu, Ugochukwu Agballa, worked openly for the Labour Party (LP) in the Southeast zone during the Presidential and Governorship elections, adding that they were instrumental to the huge votes recorded by the LP in the Southeast.
The former APC chairman maintained that in the first instance, there was no suspension that would have warranted ratification by the Southeast APC, noting that all those mentioned in the said press publication were not suspended from their wards or local government as stipulated by the APC constitution, insisting that the laughable action was unknown to the party’s constitution.
“First and foremost there was no suspension but rather what you saw was that one of the leaders of the party in the Southeast gathered the chairmen of Enugu, Abia and others to announce the purported ratification. The publication was sponsored by the said APC leader in the zone who helped in ensuring that the Labour Party succeeds in taking over Enugu and Abia States and worked against our presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kasshim Shetimma.
“What they did was a smokescreen; it was an attempt to cover their anti party activities. He gathered to announce that those of us who are true progressives in Southeast have been suspended. They worked against Tinubu and when they saw that he has won, they were unhappy. Ratification of suspension as they pronounced is unknown to APC constitution.
“Assuming without admitting that any of those names mentioned were suspended, the only way the Southeast APC would have come in to hear it is only through an appeal and that would been if only and only the suspension occurred at the local government level.
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