The immediate past chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu state, Dr. Ben Nwoye, has described the purported ratification of the suspension of party bigwigs in the Southeast as a ruse.
Those purportedly suspended included a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former Governor Sullivan Chime, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Dr Ben Nwoye, among others.
Others allegedly suspended by the Southeast leadership of the APC were the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzo Kalu, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria Osita Okechukwu, former Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, among others for alleged anti-party activities.
Nwoye, a Federal Commissioner representing Southeast in the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), while reacting to the announcement of the suspension, described it as non-existing suspensions.
He stated that the announcement was made by Southeast leadership of the party led by Dr. Ijeomah Aridiogu as an attempt to cover their anti-party activities during the 2023 general elections, stressing that it was case of kettle calling pot black.
He alleged that Aridiogu, the APC Chairman in Enugu Barrister Ugochukwu Agballa worked openly for the Labour Party in the South East zone during the presidential and governorship election, adding that they were instrumental to the huge votes recorded by the LP in the Southeast.
The former APC chairman maintained that in the first instance, there was no suspension that would have warranted the ratification by the Southeast APC, noting that all those mentioned in the said publication were not suspended from their wards or local government as stipulated by the APC constitution.
He insisted that the laughable action is unknown to the law guiding their the party which is the constitution.
“First and foremost, there was no suspension but rather what you saw was that one of the leaders of the party in the Southeast gathered the chairmen of Enugu, Abia and others to announce the purported ratification.
“The publication was sponsored by the said APC leader in the zone who helped in ensuring that the Labour Party succeeded in taking over Enugu and Abia states and worked against our presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shetima
“What they did was a smokescreen; it was an attempt to cover their anti party activities. He gathered to announce that those of us who are true progressives in Southeast have been suspended. They worked against Tinubu and when they saw that he has won, they were unhappy. Ratification of suspension as they pronounced is unknown to APC constitution.
“Assuming without admitting that any of those names mentioned were suspended, the only way the Southeast APC would have come in to hear it is only through an appeal and that would have been if only and only the suspension occurred at the local government level,” he said.
He, therefore, urged members to disregard the purported suspension and ratification as it was authored by job seekers who wanted to reap where they did not sow.
