The Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party in Enugu, have warned the embattled chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Barr. Ugochukwu Agballah, to face the party he has “effectively embalmed and consigned to the mortuary” and stop blaming the PDP.
The PDP spokesman said this in reaction to the allegations by Ugochukwu Agballah that the protest by some members of the APC that protested at the party’s national secretariat, Abuja, was sponsored by the PDP.
Nana Ogbodo, Director of Communications and Spokesman, Enugu State PDP Campaign Council in a press conference Tuesday afternoon, said “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 (APC) have further exposed to the world that they have no good intentions for Enugu State.
Nana wondered why PDP should be worried about APC which he said “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.”
Continuing, Nana said “the crisis rocking the Enugu State APC is protracted and predates the current electioneering season. It is on record that even before yesterday’s protest by their aggrieved members, the crème de la crème 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.
“However, we have, as usual been dragged into a purely APC affair by the loquacious Ugcohukwu 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.”
He maintained that it’s “Needless to waste our time on an attention-seeking rabble rouser, who has turned himself to a clergy without congregation,” while calling “on Chief Ugochukwu Agballah to go home and settle with his aggrieved party members and restitute to them whatever he has taken from them. This is not a fight between the PDP and the APC; it is squarely a fight between angry and deprived APC members and a greedy and conceited party leadership.
JOURNALIST101 recalls that some members of the Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), staged a massive protest against the leadership of the APC in Enugu State. The aggrieved members, who protested under the aegis of Concerned Members of Enugu State APC, were very clear in their grievances, namely: the impunity, gross misconducts, incompetence, divisiveness, maladministration and embezzlement of party funds, which they said were being perpetrated by the Chairman of APC in Enugu State, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, and the governorship candidate of the party, Chief Uche Nnaji.
Their grievances and allegations were listed as follows:
1. Embezzlement of the sum of N283 million provided for the purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms for their party members to make sure that their party fields candidates for all the elective positions in Enugu State, from the Governorship to the National Assembly and State Assembly.
2. Embezzlement of about $1.5 million (approximately over N1 billion), which they said various presidential aspirants gave to the state delegates to the APC national convention and presidential primaries through Chief Ugo Agballah and Chief Uche Nnaji.
3. Syphoning of the funds given to the Enugu State chapter of the party by an APC governor in the South East to help their party prepare for the presidential rally of the party in Enugu on January 11, 2023.
4. The fraud in parading Barr. George Ogara from Enugu North Senatorial Zone as the deputy governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu State, whereas the real Deputy Governorship candidate on INEC list and website is Chief Robert Ngwu, who hails from Nike, which is in Enugu East Senatorial Zone as Akpugo, where the governorship candidate, Chief Uche Nnaji, hails from.
5. They complained about what they saw as illegality in simultaneous occupation of the deputy governorship candidate and State Secretary of the PDP by Chief Robert Ngwu.
In view of the above, the group, in the petition signed by their Leader, Comrade Adolphus Ude; Chairman, Dr. Mike Chukwu; and Secretary, Engr. Vincent Asogwa, asked the national leadership of the APC to:
1. Immediately remove Chief Ugochukwu Agballah as the chairman of the APC in Enugu State and to appoint a Caretaker Chairman to pilot their party through the 2023 general election.
2. Cause Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and Chief Uche Nnaji to immediately make available to the state’s delegates to the national convention and presidential primary election the allowances totalling about $1.5 million (about N1 billion) given to delegates.
3. Compel Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and Chief Uche Nnaji to immediately account for the money meant for the interest and nomination forms.
4. Compel Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and Chief Uche Nnaji to cough out the funds given to the party by an APC governor in the South East to prepare for their presidential rally in Enugu tomorrow.
5. Direct Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and Chief Uche Nnaji to stop parading Barr. George Ogara as the deputy governorship candidate of the APC.
6. Correct the prevailing anomaly and illegality where Chief Robert Ngwu simultaneously occupies the office of the State Secretary and the position of Deputy Governorship candidate of the Enugu State APC.
