Enugu APC crisis deepens as NWC-backed faction suspends 20 members

The crisis within the Enugu State chapter of the APC has intensified as the faction led by Ugochukwu Agballah announced the suspension of 20 members for gross indiscipline and flagrant disregard for the party’s constitution. The development followed the recent suspension of Agballah and other party officials by a rival faction led by Alphonsus Nwafor […]

The crisis within the Enugu State chapter of the APC has intensified as the faction led by Ugochukwu Agballah announced the suspension of 20 members for gross indiscipline and flagrant disregard for the party’s constitution.

The development followed the recent suspension of Agballah and other party officials by a rival faction led by Alphonsus Nwafor as acting chairman.

During a stakeholders’ meeting held at the party’s secretariat on Saturday, the Agballah-led faction declared the suspension of all members involved in the earlier action.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy National Chairman of the APC (South), Chief Emma Eneukwu; the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji; Senator Chukwuka Utazi, Agballah, among others.

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Eneukwu, representing the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, said that Agballah remained the chairman of the party in Enugu State. He emphasised that the national secretariat of the APC was unaware of Agballah’s removal, stating that the purported action did not follow due process.

In a communiqué read by Senator Utazi at the end of the meeting, the party announced the suspension of the 20 members, who included Nwafor and some members of the State Working Committee (SWC).

They condemned the “recent display of gross indiscipline and total disregard for the APC constitution by some misguided party members who met in a hotel and purportedly announced the suspension of the Enugu State Chairman of APC, Hon Ugochukwu H. Agballah; the State Deputy Chairman, Chief Augustine Alumonah; the State Treasurer, Hon Jude Aniogbo; and the State Organising Secretary, Hon Emeka Eze.”

The stakeholders accused the group of forging signatures and appending the names of over 35 individuals who had no knowledge of the suspension.

The APC also announced the formation of an eight-member committee to review the cases of previously suspended members who have expressed interest in returning to the party.

It would be recalled that a state high court sitting in Enugu recently restrained Agballah and some others from parading themselves as officials of the party.

The injunction was granted in response to a suit filed by Nwafor, who identified himself as the acting state chairman, and other party executives who sought to prevent Agballah and others from claiming leadership positions within the party.