The Enugu state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Tuesday, distanced itself from the allegation that it sponsored demonstration against the Enugu state All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, Ugo Agballah, and its governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji, in Abuja for alleged embezzlement of N1.3 billion.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu on Tuesday, Nana Ogbodo
Director of Communications and Spokesman, Enugu state PDP Campaign Council said the protest was led by APC leaders against their own party.
PDP’s reaction followed Agballah’s claim that the protesters were sponsored by PDP in the state.
Recall that the protesters who stormed APC national secretariat in Abuja on Monday where they alleged that the chairman of the party, Ugochukwu Agballah, and the governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji, were allegedly involved in the N1.3b fraud the state.
The leader of the protesters and chairman, Concerned Members of Enugu state APC, Adolphus Ude, who doubles as chairman, Mainstream Enugu APC and pioneer deputy chairman, APC, Enugu state, told newsmen that they were at the secretariat to vent their anger over the matter and asked the party’s national leadership to wade in.
Ogbodo said, “we have, as usual, been dragged into a purely APC affair by the loquacious Ugochukwu Agballah, who has claimed that the protesters were sponsored by the PDP. Of course, Agballah’s penchant for looking for scapegoats rather than face his demons is legendary.
“Ordinarily, the Enugu state PDP should have no business with the self-confessed fraud, embezzlement and impunity going on in the Enugu state chapter of the APC, except to say that they have further exposed to the world that they have no good intentions for Enugu State.
“Besides, the APC has never been a factor in elections in Enugu state, let alone now that all the key stakeholders of the APC in Enugu have abandoned the party to Ugochukwu Agballah and his godfathers.
“If the APC was in the ICU before his controversial emergence as the state chairman, the party has now been effectively embalmed and consigned to the mortuary by the totalitarian, greedy, and corrupt leadership of Agballah and his two godfathers,” he said.
According to Ogbodo, the crisis rocking the Enugu State APC is protracted and predates the current electioneering season
He said: “It is on record that even before yesterday’s protest by their aggrieved members, the cream de la creame of the APC in Enugu State had petitioned and physically led a protest to the National Chairman and leadership of the party in August 2022, raising about the same issues highlighted by the Concerned Enugu APC Members yesterday and called for Abgalla’s immediate removal from office and appointment of a caretaker chairman.
“Among the party leaders were the former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; former governor of Enugu state, Sullivan Chime; former Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Odoh; former state chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye; Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu; member of the Police Service Commission, Onyemuche Nnamani, member of the Federal Character Commission, among others.”
