The 2023 general elections have come and gone and those satisfied with the outcome are currently before various elections petition tribunals but one thing that’s not going away is the abysmal performance of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State as more stakeholders continue to point accusing fingers to the state Chairman, Barr. Ugochukwu Agballah.
The APC failed to secure any of the 24 House of Assembly seats in, non in the 11 National Assembly positions up for grabs and came a very very distant 4th in the Governorship elections. The party in Enugu also performed poorly in the presidential election, securing a paltry less than four percent of the votes cast in the state. Which was attributed to the efforts of the members of the Independent Campaign Council grassroot campaign for Tinubu and Shettima.
Many stakeholders have attributed the poor performance to the myriad of crisis in the party’s leadership which they said, was more significant in Enugu chapter leading to majority of their prominent members ditching the broom for other parties while others stayed away completely over alleged conversion of the party to a private estate by its present Chairman, Ugochukwu Agballah
Revealing reasons for the party’s poor outing in the general elections, one of the stakeholders of the party, Hon. Gerald Chinonso Nworisa alleged that their state chairman “was a double-faced merchant for a premeditated hatchet job.”
According to Nworisa, “Ugo Agballa lives in falsehood, self-deception and manipulation,” adding that “during the state primary elections, Agballa insisted that Chief Uche Nnaji should emerge unopposed as the governorship candidate for the party in Enugu state.”
He alleged that “Ugo Agballa was strictly mandated by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state to deliver Uche Nnaji as governorship candidate of the party in Enugu state, yet Agballa went behind to approach Chief Ike Ekweremadu who withdrew from the PDP and promised to offer Ekweremadu governorship ticket of the APC.
Nworisa stated that Ekwermadu queried Agballa on why he was making such offer to him while he was aware that the APC had Uche Nnaji as their candidate, but Agballa told Ekweremadu that “Uche Nnaji was a passerby and a placeholder, who is not serious for the contest.
“Ugo Agballa emphasized that Uche Nnaji cannot win any election, he demanded certain amount from Ekweremadu so he could handover the APC governorship ticket to him. Ekweremadu paid Ugo to the tune of his demand. All these happened in Carlton Swiss Lodge where Ugo Agballa lodged for five days at expense of Ike Ekweremadu.
“Funny enough, as a double-faced merchant he is, Ugo Agballa went to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and told him that Ekweremadu was lobbying seriously to have APC governorship ticket. Double Deal you call it? It is worse than that.
“Ugo Agballah after another good deal, went to the press to castigate Ekweremadu calling him all sorts of names. The press release went viral and Ekweremadu became disappointed at Ugo’s treacherous attitude and then started making moves to use federal might to pick the governorship ticket. Ugo cried to Governor Hope Uzodimma, complaining that Ekweremadu wants to mess him up with federal might by attempting to hijack the governorship ticket from Abuja.
He further narrated that Governor Hope Uzodimma and the National chairman of the party, Senator Abdulahi Adamu stepped in to broker peace between Ekweremadu and Uche Nnaji with balanced power negotiation formula and resolved the matter through excruciating pains.
Nworisa said that Agballa still frustrated the gains the party would have made through the entrance of Senator Ike Ekweremadu into the APC when Agballa still went further castigating Ekweremadu.
“Ekweremadu would have joined APC without being the gubernatorial candidate but because of Ugo Agballa he refused even when he was offered candidacy for his supporters. Ugo Agballa has caused more harm than good to Governor Hope Uzodinma and Uche Nnaji. Uche Nnaji was at the firm grip of Ugo Agballa to the length and breadth that he – Nnaji never had time to listen or even discuss about his governorship project with any other person aside Ugo Agballa.
“No wonder Uche Nnaji manifesto came out less than a month to the election. This is a strategy Agballa hatched so that there will be limited time to discuss the manifesto in public space before the election, so that the electorates wouldn’t have ample opportunity to interrogate the contents of the manifesto. There was no proper campaign for votes anywhere in the state.
“Ugo Agballa sold the idea to chase stakeholders away to Uche Nnaji for him to hatchet his plan well on any available funds and Tinubu’s cabinet appointments which have been his main target. Ugo Agballa cannot be trusted with money or position. He betrays everyone including his shadow. Ugo is a man without conscience. Ugo is enjoying borehole that Ekweremadu gave to Ugo’s Udi community which Ugo hijacked and monopolized that borehole and site it in his hotel premises in Udi town at the expense of the masses in his usual manner of converting public funds and utility for his selfish gains and interest.
“Ugo is a man that everyone who comes in contact with him has one ugly story or the other to tell. He leaves unforgettable scars on anyone he comes in contact with. He was paid to destroy APC in Enugu State but we won’t allow him to do it and get out with it. He must be held responsible to account for his numerous evil deeds and shortcomings,” Nworisa promised.
