Appeal panel upholds Imo Congress amidst protests

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Appeal Committee has rectified the ward and local government congresses held in Imo state, even as opposition led by Governor Rochas Okorocha continue to protest against the exercise. The approval by the committee came just as members of the Imo State House of Assembly led by the Speaker. Hon. Acho Ihim stormed the national Secretariat of the APC along with some party stakeholders to protest the outcome of the congress.
Governor Okorocha had earlier met President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, to protest alleged malfeasance during the Imo ward and council congresses and demanded its cancellation. However, the appeal panel report dismissed the petition on grounds that it lacked merit.
In the report submitted by Imo State Congress Committee and signed by its chairman, Senator Abubakar Tutare, the panel held that the congress committee mandated to conduct the exercise has confirmed that the exercise actually took place in the state.
Furtherhe said those who wrote petition against the congress were unqualified persons. The report said: “That the congress committee presented video evidence to support their position that congress actually held in state.” The Speaker of the Imo state Assembly, who led some members of the House of Representatives and 24 members of the Imo state House of Assembly to a meeting with the APC National Chairman, said they had come to the national headquarters of the party to protest the conduct of congress in Imo state. He said that they mobilized the 24 members of the State Assembly in order to show how serious the matter is to the party stakeholders in Imo state.
He said the lawmakers and governor still has implicit confi dence in ability of the NWC to resolve “We are here to reaffi rm that there was no Congresses in the 305 wards in Imo and we demand that a categorical statement be made by the party for a new date that fresh Congresses of the party will be held.
“We demand that the constituted statement and announcement be made about the congresses that did not hold. The new date should be announced and the whole things should be ratified and there will be peace in the state.

 

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