The Enugu State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is having trouble due to disagreements among stakeholders over the non-release of approximately N1.3 billion intended to pay delegates to the party’s most recent National Convention and Special Presidential Convention.
The situation happened as a few party members from the state chapter stormed the party’s national secretariat on Monday to protest against the state chairman and the candidate for governor.
The situation is jeopardizing plans for the party’s presidential rally scheduled for January 11 in Enugu.
Both the state chairman of the party, Ugochukwu Agballah, and the candidate for governor, Uche Nnaji, must be forced to provide a financial account of the party in the state, according to the protesters who submitted a written petition to the National Working Committee (NWC? of the party, which is led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
This occurred as both men refuted the accusations, claiming that the state chapter had not received the alleged payments from the federal authorities.
The national secretariat of the APC is responsible for confirming whether such monies were disbursed, according to Fidelis Edeh, director-general of the Nwakaibie Uche Nnaji Campaign Organization.
“APC should be the one to confirm and not the candidate,” Edeh said.
Agballah, the chairman of the APC in Enugu State, asserted that the assertions made were inaccurate and insisted that the national leadership had not yet financially mobilized them.
“We are yet to get any money. The governorship candidate is the person funding the campaigns,” Agballah said.
Comrade Adolphus Ude, the demonstrators’ leader and the chairman of the Enugu State APC’s Concerned Members, claimed there had been “impunity, gross misconduct, fraudulent administration, embezzlement of party funds, and impunity being perpetrated by the state chairman and the governorship candidate.”
The national secretariat should ask the pair to explain how the N283 million intended for the expression of interest and nomination forms was spent, according to Ude, who serves as both the chairman of “Mainstream Enugu APC” and the first deputy chairman of the party in the State.
In order to boost her fortunes and ensure that the party receives at least 25% of the votes cast in the State’s 2023 presidential election, he claimed that the money would be used to ensure that the party fields candidates for the governorship, all of the seats in the National Assembly, and all of the State Assembly seats in Enugu State.
They further argued that the delegates had not received the sum of $1.5 million (N1.050 billion) that was supposed to be their budget for the 2022 national conference and presidential convention in Enugu State.
Speaking further, he said: “These and related matters such as the irregular and controversial emergence of the new state executive, which are also before the courts, were laid before the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, while he was the chairman of the APC Reconciliation Committee.
“Our notable party leaders in the state were also on a protest visit to the national leadership in August 2022 where they submitted a petition calling for the removal of Ugochukwu Agballah as the State party chairman and appointment of a Caretaker Chairman to save the state chapter of the party from destruction and disgrace. The signatories and delegation included; Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Sullivan Chime, former Governor of Enugu State; Barr. Eugene Odo, former Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly; Ambassador Christian Ugwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Poland, among many others.
“Although the chairman promised to look into the issues, we can understand that pressing party matters such as the national convention and presidential primary, overseeing the various primary elections and the party’s preparations for the 2023 general election, which he had to undertake immediately after his election as the national chairman must have preoccupied him.
“Unfortunately, all the issues we forewarned against and more are happening in the Enugu State chapter of the party and we believe that unless urgent and drastic steps are taken, the party faces a disastrous and scandalous outing in the state in the forthcoming general election.
“There is also the issue of hijack of the funds provided for preparation for the forthcoming 11th January 2023 presidential rally in Enugu and visit by our presidential candidate, Awiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
“Although serious damage has already been done to the party by the duo of Agballah and Nnaji, who in the real sense are not interested in the wellbeing and victory of the APC, but only in making brisk business at the expense of our party, we believe that the national leadership of the party; our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima; and our President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, could still work with the leaders and mainstream of the APC to remedy the situation before the general election.
“We are calling for the immediate removal of Agballah as the chairman of the APC in Enugu State and the appointment of a Caretaker Chairman to pilot the party through the 2023 general election.
“We call on the national leadership of the party to cause Agballah and Nnaji to immediately make available to the state’s delegates to the national convention and presidential primary election the allowances totaling about $1.5 million given to them.
“We call on the national leadership of the APC to cause Agballah and Nnaji to immediately account for the sum of N283 million released to them for the expression of interest and nomination forms for all the elective offices in Enugu in the 2023 general election.
“We call on the national leadership of the party to cause Agballah and Nnaji to release the funds made available for the preparations for the forthcoming presidential rally in Enugu.
“As loyal party members, we re-emphasize the need to address with dispatch these issues raised in our protest letter submitted here in order to reposition our party for a resounding impact in the presidential election in Enugu State.”