It is surprising to many followers of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia State that after losing in the presidential and governorship elections, the party has chosen the path of self-destruct rather than healing, recovery and reconciliation....CONTINUE READING
Politically, if a political party losses irredeemably with all its members, stakeholders and stalwarts intact, it is expected that the party would deploy all possible means to restrategise and reposition rather than widening its division by dis- owning its assets…..CONTINUE READING
The Abia APC has never had it so bad compared to the last general election in the state. It could only score 8,000 votes in the presidential election and a distant fourth in the governorship.
Now, rather than a sober reflection on its dwindling fortunes, the party has embarked on the self-destructive suspension of some stalwarts. Last week, in a desperate search for a scapegoat over its abysmal outing, the party announced the suspension of its key stakeholders. Notable among them are the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Ogah; a member of the House of Representatives representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Sam Onuigbo and Senator Nkechi Nworgu, among others.
Their suspension according to the state secretary of the party, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu, is justified by their anti-party activities before and during the general election. But many supporters of the par- ty are aware that the present APC woes in the state are not new. Keen watchers of the party’s history in Abia agree that the current development is an accumulation of several missteps, miscalculations and the struggle for personal and factional supremacy. In 2019, in spite of the manifest sabotage of the party’s fortunes by a section who felt it was their right to produce the successor of Senator Theodore Orji, worked against the emergence of Ogah as the governor- ship candidate of the party. Now, the poor performance of APC is not sur- prising to many. The party had never been a one-family in the real sense of the word. The party has always been a marriage of strange bedfellows. Reacting to his purported suspension, Onuigbo, who is the House of Representatives Committee Chair- man on Climate Change, declared that the purported suspension of chieftains of the APC in Abia State would not save the party’s governor- ship candidate in the March 18 governorship poll, Chief Ikechi Emenike, from taking responsibility for the poor performance of the party in the state in the last election. Onuigbo, who was the APC sena- torial candidate for Abia Central Senatorial District in the just conducted 2023 general election, dismissed his purported suspension by the state leadership of the party as “ridiculous.”
He said the APC could not substantiate the allegation of anti-party activity and wondered how he would play anti-party when he is contesting the election to win. He accused the party of working against his ambition, alleging that rather than recognize his candidacy as affirmed by the court the governorship candidate, Chief Ikechi Emenike, rec- ognized Chief Emeka Atuma, when the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, came to campaign in Umuahia.
He also wondered why he would work against the party in favour of his opponents, Enyinnaya Orji and Austin Akobundu, who he alleged, forced him out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in order to realize their House of Representatives and Senatorial ambitions. Onuigbo stressed that Chief Emenike and his foot soldiers were trying to avert a probe into how the campaign funds for the party candidates in Abia were spent. He alleged that the party gave Emenike money from the national headquarters and he must account for how he disbursed the funds.
He accused the governor- ship candidate of running Abia State APC like a personal kiosk, where he opens and locks as he desires. In the same vein, a member of the APC presidential campaign council, New Media, Kelechi Boms, also be- rated Chief Emenike over his faction’s alleged suspension of Senator Nwaogu. In a statement, Boms said the purported suspension of Senator Nwaogu by the Emenike faction of the APC was laughable.
The statement read in part: “Senator Nkechi Nwaogu was ap- pointed Director (South East) Parliamentarian APC Presidential Campaign Council and also appointed Abia State Co-ordinator for Women, Tinubu/ Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Council. She and her women campaigned vigorously for His Excellency, Senator Bola Tinubu, the President-elect and are among the chieftains of the party that are still funding the party in Abia State since 2015.
It is on record that Senator Nwaogu financially supported the APC candidates for Senate in Abia Central and House of Assembly, Osisioma Ngwa South State Constituency in the just concluded election.” Boms said it beats the imagi- nation of genuine APC members in the state that a governorship candi- date that failed in his polling unit, his ward and in his local government in the presidential election would turn around and accuse Nwaogu of working against the party. “We are challenging Emenike to show us the result of the presidential election in his polling unit. It is on record that Emenike collud- ed with the Labour Party to work against the presidential candidate of our party,” he said.
He accused Emenike of only be- ing interested in the Presidential Campaign Council fund and positioning himself for a ministerial slot, which he said was the reason the governor candidate refused to work with any member of the APC in Abia State. Boms called on the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to ignore the purported suspension of Senator Nwaogu, as according to him, she campaigned and supported APC in the last general election. He, however, urged that the National Secretariat of APC restructure the party in the state before it goes into extinction.
Ogah, on his part, also dismissed the purported suspension as a ruse. According to him, only his ward has the constitutional power to suspend him. He, however, disclosed why he abandoned APC and supported Labour Party in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Ogah accused the member of the House of Representatives representing Isiukwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, of colluding with the governorship candidate of the APC in Abia State, Emenike, to destroy the APC in the state. The oil magnet said he had no regrets supporting his younger brother, Amobi Ogah of the Labour Party, who won the Isiukwuato/ Umunneochi Federal Constituency seat because he needed to teach the incumbent lawmaker, Onyejeocha, a lesson.
His words: “Nkeiru told every- body that I had no electoral value, but I wanted to prove her wrong and teach her a lesson. I have shown her that she is the one without any electoral value. She said she can win the election without me. Now, let her come and win the election in Isuikwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency again. She said no man with balls can collect the seat from her, and I wanted to tell her that I have balls.”
In a counter move, a faction of the party executive led by Offor Okorie, also suspended the governorship candidate, Chief Ikechi Emenike for running the party as a personal estate. The faction said the governorship candidate did not carry the stakeholders along during the election nor were they privy to how he spent the election and campaign funds. They accused him of being responsible for the poor outing.
The Abia APC at a time tinkered with the idea of suspending the chief whip of the Senate and Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu. Kalu also accused Emenike of spewing hatred against him even in his own Bende Local Government Area during campaigns and when he met with traditional rulers from the area, which the governorship candidate could not refute. It is incontrovertible that until his faction became recognized after the 2022 state congress of the party, Emenike hardly identifies with the party nor worked with the Donatus Nwankpa-led executive.
Many are asking how can this kind of party, lacking camaraderie, and bereft of unity, win an election in a state like Abia. How can a party win an election without its strong stakeholders, with temper and temperament so cantankerous and running amuck?
At the end of the day, everyone knows why APC lost so woefully in the last election in Abia State. Per- haps, this was what the Governor- elect, Dr. Alex Otti and his campaign director general, Acho Obioma, foresaw and left the party for Labour Party…..CONTINUE READING
