|
Listen to article
|
Dr. Ben Nwoye who is the immediate past Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, has described ratification of the purported suspension of bigwigs of the party in the South East as a smokescreen.
The Eastern UpdatesSouth East leadership of the party had announced the suspension of the Chief Whip of the Senate, Oji Uzo kalu; the Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Ben Nwoye; ex-Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, among others, for alleged anti-party activities.
Nwoye, while reacting to the suspension, maintained that the purported ratification by the leadership of the party in the region, led by Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogu, was an attempt to cover their poor performance during the general elections.
Read Also: 10th Assembly: Igbo Group Knocks APC Over Zoning Formula
He said the action was like a case of ‘kettle calling pot black.’ He alleged that Arodiogu and the APC Chairman in Enugu, Ugochukwu Agballa, worked openly for Labour Party (LP) in the zone during the presidential and governorship elections, adding that they were instrumental in the huge votes recorded by LP in the region.
Nwoye maintained that there was no suspension that would have warranted ratification by the South East APC, noting that all those mentioned in the said publication were not suspended from their wards or councils as stipulated by the APC Constitution. He stressed that the development was laughable, since the action is unknown to laws guiding the party.
He said: ‘First, there was no suspension; what you saw was that one of the leaders of the party in the South East gathered the chairmen of Enugu, Abia, and others to announce the purported ratification.
‘The publication was sponsored by the said APC leader in the zone, who helped in ensuring that LP succeeds in taking over Enugu and Abia states and worked against our presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and his running mate, Kasshim Shetimma.
‘What they did was a smokescreen; it was an attempt to cover their anti-party activities. They worked against Tinubu, and when they saw he won, they were unhappy.
‘Ratification of suspension, as they pronounced, is unknown to APC Constitution.
‘Assuming without admitting that any of those names mentioned were suspended, the only way the South East APC would have heard it is through an appeal, and that would have been if the suspension occurred at the council level.
