POLITICS
Abia: APGA crisis deepens as Alex Otti-led faction sacks Ehiemere, elects
Nkem Okoro as Abia Chairman
The Alex Otti-led
faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, has
elected 26-man State Working Committee (SWC) of the party at a well-attended
congress held in Umuahia, the Abia state capital.
Alex Otti, was the
governorship candidate of APGA during the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election
conducted in the state.
Also elected were,
ward Executives, chairmen for the seventeen local government areas of Abia and
three zonal vice chairmen of the party.
Hon. Nkem Okoro,
emerged the new chairman of APGA in the State, succeeding Reverend Augustine
Ehiemere.
Others were, Hon.
Elvis Wabara (Deputy chairman), Dr. Onyebuchi Onyegbule (State Secretary), Hon.
Ebere Uzokwa (Publicity Secretary), Chief Kalu Okpo Kalu (Vice Chairman Abia
North), Mr. Pino Nwagbaso(Vice Chairman (Abia South) and Evang. Innocent
Okamgba(Vice Chairman, Abia central).
In his maiden
address read by Hon. Nkem Okoro, the new State chairman of APGA, “We wish to ventilate
our condemnation in its entirety the brigandage and illegality perpetrated by
some usurpers and hoodlums who regrouped and attempted to hijack our great
party, apparently to pursue a fraudulent, selfish agenda at the detriment of
the ideals of our party as the leading voice of the opposition and the
watershed of the democratic struggle to revive the state.
“We wish to
announce that the purported exercise and the illegal gathering of some persons
at the party’s secretariat on 23rd May, masterminded by the former state
chairman, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere and his co-travelers, were nothing but a sham
and nullity hence a court of competent jurisdiction declared it null and void.
“In as much we
don’t intend to join issues with the former state chairman, Rev. Ehiemere and
his sponsors/paymasters, the salient and incontrovertible fact remains that
Abia APGA is intact, indivisible and purposeful under the leadership of our
amiable and dynamic Governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR and other
leaders sharing a common vision of lifting Abia from the doldrums of
backwardness and bad governance to the pedestal of good governance and
redemptive leadership.
“May we therefore
use this medium to pass an implicit vote of confidence on Dr. Alex Otti, OFR
for providing the rightful leadership and the wherewithal that politically
elevated and sustained Abia APGA as the leading opposition party and the voice
of the groaning masses in the state since 2014 till date.
The statement
added, “The new and authentic leadership of APGA as presently constituted,
hereby declare an unequivocal support and absolute loyalty to Dr. Alex Otti,
OFR, the 2019 Abia APGA Governorship Candidate, as he diligently pursues his
petition at the Abia Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in
Umuahia; believing strongly the sanctity and impartiality of the judiciary as
the last hope of a common man.
“We are equally
poised and determined to work on the side of Ndi Abia by resisting through
legitimate means any attempt by those ‘hijackers and usurpers’ masquerading as
APGA leaders but merely recruited by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
and Government of Abia State to derail the course of justice in our dear state.
Abia, our dear state and God’s Own State, must be liberated”.
Recall that we had in May 23, 2019, reported that Reverend Augustine Ehiemere and Elder
Sunday Onukwubiri, were returned as Abia chairman and Secretary of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in a congress held at the State secretariats
in Umuahia, the state capital.
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