Party chieftains trade words over chairmanship

The Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Godwin Udu, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by Chief Edozie Njoku and his cohorts to destabilise and ‘sink’ the party for their selfish interests.

Recall that APGA was recently enmeshed in a fresh crisis, prompting Mr Njoku to announce he had the support of the Independent National Electoral Commission and a Supreme Court order to become the national chairman of the party.

The party, last week, said it filed a lawsuit in an Abuja Federal High Court challenging INEC’s purported failure to provide evidence showing Njoku ever occupied a national office within the APGA.

But reacting to the development in a statement, on Monday, Udu observed the matter surrounding the alleged misconduct and eventual expulsion of Njoku from APGA was still pending in a competent court, saying he was heating the polity to distract the genuine leadership and owners of the party.

“Edozie Njoku thinks that he can outsmart the National Chairman, not knowing that the current Chairman like his predecessor, Victor Oye understands the game of politics than him. Our case with Njoku is coming up in October; so, let’s see which court gave him (Njoku) an order to be APGA’s national chairman”, he said.

According to him, Njoku was subtly scheming on how to become the national chairman of the party ahead of the Anambra State governorship election in 2024, adding, “The whole idea is to reap where he did not sow.”

He said, “It’s obvious to party faithful and supporters that Edozie Njoku is merely using hook-and-crook skirmishes to launch himself into becoming the chairman of APGA. And this he has started doing lately again because of the Anambra governorship election, which is coming up next year. But we can not allow him. ‘’His style is immediately after every election he would disappear and you won’t see him again until the next election. He’s only interested in the affairs of APGA when elections are around the corner.

“He likes hobnobbing from one failed APGA candidate to another promising them tickets. It’s on record Njoku does not do anything straightforward. This is someone who never participated in any APGA convention anywhere yet he’s claiming the position of the national chairman of the party.

“I have a message he sent to the former APGA national chairman, Ozonkpu Oye, that he wanted to buy a ticket to contest in 2019, but they told him at the office the sale of tickets had closed.

“We shall not fold our hands and leave him to destroy APGA and use the party as his meal ticket. We won’t allow you again because Oke anagi eri ihie onye mu Anya (meaning that rats don’t eat a portion of food belonging to a man who’s awake). You should go and look for what to do and leave APGA alone. Enough of people using Njoku to form APGA faction, because APGA is bonded from wards, local governments to states and national executives.”

He further alleged that Njoku was desperately plotting to ascend the national championship of the party to gain the needed grounds to trade off its pieces of property.

“Njoku’s sole plan is to sink APGA and sell off what the party has laboured for under Victor Oye and his executives, then lavish the proceeds on whiskey, champagne etc, but we won’t allow that to happen”, he added.

Reacting, the embattled Njoku said the Independent National Electoral Commission had recognised him as the national chairman of the party, describing the current National Working Committee of the APGA as a failure.

Painting a sorry picture of the current state of APGA, Njoku vowed to reshape and reposition the party very soon.

He said, “All I could say is that INEC has recognised me as chairman based on the Owerri convention, any person coming from the Awka convention is an impostor. That’s just the fact, and I’m not going to start mincing words with Godwin. I have been in this fight for the past five years. You should know that. It’s a fight of principle whereby the right thing must be done. APGA must come back to the top burner. I was reading an article the other where they were claiming to have mobilised and got over 1000 youths.

“This is a pure lie. Which election did they conduct and have ever won? For instance, in Imo State they got just 826 votes. Can you imagine? The whole of Imo State? Is it not a disgrace for the whole of APGA to get 826 votes? They should show me the results of what they have achieved. I ran for a Federal House under former governor Peter Obi and in those days we were winning elections. They should tell us where they have won elections apart from Anambra State because they have a governor there.

“So, all the noise about 1000 youths is a rise. Where were the youths when the party got 826 votes in Imo State? They are the distraction themselves and, we don’t need it. I’m not even interested. We are being recognised by INEC and we have a big job to do. This is because the next thing they would say is this thing has gone outside Anambra and we have spoilt it.

“APGA will not die in my hands; so whatever I am doing now is to move the party from where they left it, to the next level. So, Udu and the rest of them should rather be hiding their faces in shame. Why? In all the elections they have been participating in, which one of them have they garnered more than 1000 votes apart from Anambra State”, he concluded.