JUST IN: Ebonyi APC divided, may lose in 2023 – Chieftain

A factional Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, in Ebonyi State, Haroun Ajah, has raised the alarm over divisive tendencies and lack of cohesion within the ranks and file of the ruling party in the state.

With the level of division and distrust in the party, the APC chieftain said the ruling party risked losing the governorship and other elections in the state, come 2023.

While calling on the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the national leadership of the party to intervene, he claimed that the APC had become more divided since Governor David Umahi joined the party in November, 2020.

Ajah, who doubles as the Chairman, Tinubu Support Group, Ebonyi Chapter, stated this while briefing journalists in Abakaliki, on Monday.

According to him, “The sudden and current happenings in Ebonyi State teach us to carefully remind the APC leadership in Abuja that all is not well with our great party, APC, in Ebonyi State.

“The crisis in the Ebonyi APC started immediately on November 19, 2020, when the Governor, David Umahi, defected to the APC, and up till date, the ill-feelings deepen daily with the fallouts of the party congresses from wards through the national convention to the party primaries for the election of candidates from the House of Assembly through the Governorship to Presidential primaries.

“This situation goes beyond these party congresses, convention and primaries, as some of the APC legacy members are already leaving the party to another parties for the 2023 general election nominations. The situation of the APC in Ebonyi State is so precarious because we are so divided and disunited, which is of great concern to me. I call the attention of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to this dangerous scenario.

“There is absolute need for genuine reconciliation and justice for the old APC members in Ebonyi State for the restoration of the lost glory of our great party in the state. And those who might be indifferent and against this imperative obligation are acting the script of the not-the-mother of the child among the two women that appeared before King Solomon for judgement over the ownership of the child in contention.

“The APC in Ebonyi State is a child in contention between the old ones and the new APC members and the fault lines are overstretched between the camps of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Governor David Umahi, Senator Julius Ucha, Elias Mbam, and Edward Nkwagu. The naked truth is that there is still dichotomy between the old and the new APC members in Ebonyi State. You cannot talk of APC in Ebonyi State without the factors of His Excellency, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and his old APC members and stakeholders mainly of the ANPP family.”

He added, “It is high time the national leadership of our great party, the APC, instigated and facilitated reconciliation panel between the old and the new APC leadership in Ebonyi State to confess their grievances against each other and to keep us united. There is need to apologise to each other where necessary and then attract cooperation from both old and new members in order to achieve our aspiration for the greatest interest of the party in 2023.

“I urge our great party, the APC national leadership under the chairmanship of His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, to be mindful of the pending crisis in Ebonyi APC to avoid our dear party paying dearly for it in the forthcoming 2023 general election, as the APC is not yet united in Ebonyi State.”