By Sunday Agbo, Abakaliki


‎President Muhammadu Buhari’s working visit to Ebonyi State have re-ignited the lingering leadership tussle rocking the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as it had polarised the opposition party along two factions.

Orient Daily gathered that Buhari held a closed-door meeting with some select stakeholders of APC at the Presidential Lodge, Ebonyi State during which members of the faction of the party led by the embattled chairman, Ben Nwobasi, who is loyal to Senator Julius Ali Ucha, ‎were allegedly banned from participating in the meeting before the President intervened.

‎The meeting, which was attended by members of both factions, one headed by the factional chairman, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu and the embattled chairman, Ben Nwobasi, ended in a deadlock as both factions threw banters at each other with accusations and counter accusations.

Some of the issues, it was learned that dominated the discourse between the President and the APC stakeholders during the close-door meeting, was who becomes the authentic chairman of the party in the state. Other issues include the loan sought by the state government, alleged maltreatment of the APC by PDP in the state, among others.

However, in their reactions, some of participants made contradictory statements. While the factional chairman, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu, a loyalist to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, described the meeting as a landmark achievement for the party as it provided a rare opportunity for them to ‎officially report to the President the alleged ruthless treatment meted on them by the present administration of PDP under David Nweze Umahi, the other faction by Ben Nwobasi said he remains the authentic chairman of APC in Ebonyi State.

Moreover, Eze Nwachukwu dismissed any crisis in the party, stating that the leadership crisis rocking the party has been resolved. But Nwobasi and others refuted the claims by Nwachukwu, saying that the matter is still in court.

‎Nwachukwu said, ” The President graciously granted the APC family in Ebonyi State the opportunity to interact with him and it was successful. We presented our challenges, the humiliations, impunity and the callousness of the present government in Ebonyi State. The pains and the afflictions he has unleashed on the APC family. We made them clearly to Mr. President. We are happy because he has given us the assurance to address them in fullness even as we prepare to receive our national chairman tomorrow to recruit more members.

“The leadership crisis in the party is gone because today, I made a presentation to Mr. President ‎and it was clearly acknowledged. Like the 13-member working committee has returned on the 13th before the arrival of Mr. President. So, the crisis is over,” he stated.

But Nwobasi said that Mr. President lacks the capacity to resolve the crisis rocking the leadership of APC in Ebonyi State, adding that Nwachukwu lied when he announced that the crisis has been laid to rest.

‎”It is not true that the leadership cr‎isis rocking the party has been resolved. The matters are still in court. One of them will be coming up on the 23rd. The first judgement we got, they have appealed it at the court of appeal, Enugu. So, if he is telling you that the matter is over, he is fabricating some lies.

“I am still the authentic and elected APC chairman in Ebonyi state. There is no provision of caretaker position in the party’s constitution. I can give you documents from the national secretary which shows that his appointment as a caretaker is illegal.

“None of my members joined the group headed by the caretaker chairman. If you would not mind, I can speak for them because we were asked to come with 10 persons from each group. And as you can see, none of them is here because we came with our leaders. So, it is not true.

“You do not expect the visit of Mr. President to resolve the crisis rocking the party. The President is not a party leader. He is not the party executive. He is not the national chairman of the party. The President would not ordinarily delve into a matter that does not concern him.

“The President has advised us because they made a lot of allegations against the state government that the state government has revoked a lot of Certificate of Occupancy of the son of Chibueze Agbo.

“They also said that the loan in question should not be granted. But the President in his wisdom has advised us to work as a team and opposition so that we can work, and win election come 2019”, he disclosed.

Meanwhile, The National coordinator of a group known as Initiatives for Demonstrating Change, Comrade Chinedu Ogah, has called on the Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi and other south-east governors not in All Progressives Congress (APC) to defect to the party to enable them benefit from the policies and programmes of the APC-led government.

Ogah, who participated in the closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Lodge, said in Abakaliki that the authentic chairman of the party is Ben Nwobasi.

He distanced the faction led by Nwobasi from the plot by the Nwachukwu-led group to stop the African Development Bank (AFDB) and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) loan for the construction of Ring roads in the state.

‎”The meeting with the President is a welcome development. ‎We met with him as APC members in Ebonyi State. He came into Ebonyi as our leader and we appreciated the rousing welcome given to him. Irrespective of the fact that our governor is a PDP member, he was able to attract the President to Ebonyi State; that is to show there is a cordial relationship.

“So, what we are saying is that whatever we can do to move Ebonyi State forward, we should do it. We are not party to anybody working against the development of Ebonyi State. We welcome the construction of the ring road. If there is anything that could be done for the ring road to be constructed, Umahi should do it.‎ The ring road will benefit me particularly because, it cut across my local government area”, he said.

He called on members in the All Progressives Congress who are lamenting the closure of their property by the Ebonyi State government to pay their tax, warning that Ebonyi people should be able to distinguish political matter from personal altercation.

‎He said, “If anybody is complaining that his property was closed by the state government, mine was also closed some time ago. It is not political. You have to follow the law and pay state tax. If you did not pay and your property is closed, it should not be interpreted to be political. There are things we do not need to drag into politics. We should treat political matters politically and different from personal matters.

“What we are saying is that the chairman of APC in Ebonyi State is Nwobasi. Whoever is parading himself as APC chairman in the state is making mockery of himself. There is nothing like reconciliation in Ebonyi State APC. They are just deceiving themselves. Nobody can stay in his house and call himself APC chairman. We have not reconciled. There are still factions in APC in Ebonyi State. Nobody locked us out. The truth is that they first forwarded their names when we came in, we forwarded our names and it was acknowledged by Mr. President. We all entered, and the meeting was held.

“What we are talking about is the grassroots. We are talking about winning election. It is not about staying in your house and dishing out instructions. We are talking about how APC will win election. We are urging the governor of Ebonyi State to come into APC. It is not about staying outside. He should come to APC let us do the politics.

“If the south-east governors come into APC, we will unite and get what we want from the federal government.‎ As a governor of PDP, he cannot join in caucus meeting. If he joins APC, he will be part of the caucus and with the relationship he has established with the president, he will have a soft landing. And that is why we are saying that he should join us.

“The door is open. We are welcoming everybody to come to APC. There is no how the governor will join APC that we will not be great. Recall what happened when the new PDP was formed when Rotimi Amaechi and others decamped, they are the one that drive the new PDP. What we are saying is that all the governors in the south east should come and join the APC so that we can build a united house and united Nigeria.”

Promismike:
Hope the idiot has gone back.

5%ters don't need him.

I was impressed when i saw it was only few persons that came to see the presidiot.

NO CROWD. The hatred is mutual.

OrientDailyNews:


http://orientdailynews.com.ng/politics/buharis-rekindles-ebonyi-apc-leadership/

achi4u:
Even Chinedu Ogah is relevant this days because of APC.


All we want is a progressive Ebonyi state.

PrecisionFx:





There's No APC in Ebonyi state.

Princedaniel:


Lies sir.

Over 60% of Ebonyi electorates were members of Labour party. They were formally in PDP but when Jonathan and his wife messed up the party structure and primaries in the build up for 2015 election, they decamped to Labour party alongside the incumbent governor elechi at that time. And when the gubernatorial election was rigged, they massively decamped to apc.

Truth is that they rather have buhari than Umahi.

True story.

PrecisionFx:



. Stupidity is a skill.

Princedaniel:


What's your point sir?
Refute what I said and stop the insults.

Princedaniel:
When I read online about so many lies going on in Ebonyi state, I just laugh.

First, the president didn't come to Ebonyi to resolve any party issue. He came simply to familiarize with Igbos irrespective of party affiliation. Exactly why there were no party flags and logo during his visit to enugu and Ebonyi. Apc party loyals didn't also show up as they knew it wasn't about party.

There are factions in Ebonyi APC. The one led by Eze Nwachukwu is the one recognized by the presidency, Ogbonnaya Onu and the National chairman. While the one led by Nwaobasi is recognized by Tinubu and ACN faction of APC. This faction is also being sponsored by the governor Umahi to cause confusion in the party.

APC did very bad in the last presidential election in Ebonyi even though people didn't know why. The faction loyal to Tinubu rigged the gubernatorial primaries in favor of Sen Ucha. On that note, Ucha was given the campaign money to cover APC Ebonyi but he cornered the whole money for his personal use and went ahead to covertly support GEJ and Umahi. He thought GEJ would win. It has also been clearly seen the hands of Umahi in all these mess.

Umahi wants to decamp to apc but he wants to use his usual back door method through Nwaobasi faction as he cannot win election even in his ward. He is known for using federal might to rig elections and that is why he's seriously courting Buhari. He did it with ex-gov Elechi, Get, Makarfi PDP.

Buhari on his part must not listen to Umahi and his fake laughs. He gets hold of you, cunningly agrees with you on ANYTHING, uses you and when he has no need for you, he publicly disgraces you. Buhari cannot be an exception.

The loan he's soughting for is for 2019 election. The fg and Ebonyi people must not agree to that.

Back to the party matter, Tinubu must ask questions about the people he's working with. They collect money during elections and disappear. And at the end of the day, people mistaken igbos as not too serious politicians, but the truth is that igbos as just looking for a man of truth to link them to the center. Ermm, Ogbonnaya Onu? Honest man but little or no charisma. Besides, he cannot do it alone as he seems to be the only fg appointee in the state.

As they allow the court to settle the case, apc national chairman should have the courage to step in since Buhari has little or no interest in party politics. 2019 is around the corner.

dokiOloye:
Obviously you are familiar with Ebonyi APC politics but either U have been lied to and misled or U've chosen to tell blatant lies in a public forum of this calibre.
I have few questions for U.
1:How did Nwachukwu become d state party chairman?He fell from d sky?How can U compare that to Hon Nwobashi who was elected by a congress when APC did their state congress simultaneously nationwide in 2014?
The truth is that Onu didn't care about d party at d state level since after he failed in 2007 but is now running helter skelter to hijack d party from those who nutured d party all these while.
2:How can U say Ucha rigged d primaries in 2015 when d party executives and delegate list was firmly in d hands of Ucha/Nwobashi?Remember d issue of factions only came up after d elections when APC had already won presidential elections?
For d benefit of not conversant wt Ebonyi politics,it was Ogbonnaya Onu that changed some of d delegate list few hours b4 d primaries making what would've been a walkover for Senator Ucha a contest.
3:Ucha collected money for campaign and went ahead to support GEJ and Umahi,yet he was a contestant in d same governorship elections and managed to garner 5700 plus something votes for Buhari in his Ishielu LGA alone out of d 19,000 votes APC got in d 2019 presidential elections in Ebonyi?
Ben Nwobashi got 3000+ votes in his Ezza north while d 'almighty' Onu attracted only 949 votes in his whole local govt for Buhari but it is Ucha that supported GEJ?Add d votes from Ucha and Nwobashi's local govt and it is half of d whole votes APC got in d whole Ebonyi state just from 2 local govts.
Don't even contest these figures cos my oga was Buhari's agent in d state and I did most of d leg work including scanning d result sheet to APC national headquarters,I still have a copy in my mailbox.
Bros,U can always lie to yourself but don't lie and mislead d public pls.