Enugu APC suspends chairman and others for embezzlement and anti-party activities

This was announced in a press conference by the State Secretary for Public Relations. Chief Michael Ezeanyanwuand other state executive committees of the party on Saturday in Enugu.

Ezeanyanwu said that members of the Enugu State Executive Committee had passed a vote of no confidence because of their anti-party activities.

“We, the members of the State Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress, Enugu State, hereby express a vote of no confidence in Chief Ugochukwu Agballah (State Chairman). Chief Augustine Alumonah (Deputy State Chairman).

“Others are Mr Jude Aniogbo (State Treasurer) and Mr Emeka Eze (State Organizing Secretary) and they are hereby suspended from the party.

“Our decision is based on a series of cases of abuse of office, seizure of power, the creation of parliamentary group executives, the unconstitutional removal of party executives.

“Others include inciting a crisis in the Party, in a local government, etc., committed by the said officials against the Party,” he said.

According to Ezeanyanwu, since his confirmation as the national chairman of the party, Agballah has been running the affairs of the party as if they were his private matter, without regard to the party’s constitution.

He said the suspended chairman had exercised the powers of his office as chairman of the party in the state arbitrarily and for personal reasons, including embezzlement and misappropriation of funds meant for the party.

He added that the recent embezzlement to the detriment of the party and its members was related to his handling of money for the logistics of the Enugu State APC participants in the South East Stakeholders meetings in Owerri and Ebonyi State.

According to him, the suspended officials had excluded the members of the party’s national executive committee and exercised the body’s power arbitrarily.

“They went so far as to unduly interfere in the party’s work in local government.

“Can you imagine that the chairman and the treasurer of the state would collude with the bank officials and give them access to the party’s account without fulfilling the necessary constitutional requirement that the chairman and two other signatories sign financial documents?

“The state chairman and treasurer also use their private accounts to transfer funds intended for the party in order to avoid traces.

“The state chairman, the deputy state chairman and the state organisation secretary were also involved in inciting crises and a split in the party in some local governments and districts,” he added.

Ezeanyanwu alleged that the State Chairman through his deputy and the Organising Secretary instigated and formed faction leaders in Aku 3 District in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Areas and Abbi District in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas without the knowledge and consent of the SWC.

“Recently, in July, the State Chairman and the State Organising Secretary organised and attended meetings with the Deputy Chairman of Enugu South Local Government, other officials of the Local Government and some District Chairmen at the Signature Hotel and incited them to remove the Local Government Chairman by any means possible.

“He has attempted to create parallel executive bodies in Ezeagu, Udi and Awgu local government areas, which has plunged the party into chaos.

“His misconduct and handling of party activities in Enugu State resulted in Enugu State achieving the worst result in the just concluded general elections,” claimed the chairman.

“All these anti-party activities by these party enemies in the name of the party leadership culminated in the colossal and abysmal performance of the party in the state in the last general election despite the efforts of our gubernatorial candidate and we do not want a repeat of that.

“For this reason, the above-named individuals are hereby suspended with immediate effect.”

Efforts to reach the controversial Chairman Agballah failed as his phone was switched off. The State Treasurer, Mr. Jude Aniogbo, however, declined to comment on the grounds that they do not involve themselves in the affairs of the State Working Committee.

“We will not join hands with the SWC who claim to have suspended us as we are too busy to do so.said Aniogbo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that some party stakeholders expressed no confidence in Agballah in March because of his allegedly arrogant leadership style.

The stakeholders, led by a senior APC official, Mrs Ginika Tor, expressed dismay that Agballah had destroyed the party structure of the state by unconstitutionally suspending the party’s founders.

The people suspended by Agballah were the former Senate President, Ken Nnamaniformer Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Carillonformer state chairman, Ben Nwoye and former Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu.