Enugu APC Crisis: Party Apologises To Uzodinma, Says He Is Innocent

The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has apologised to the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma for the accusation levelled against him about fueling conflict in the state APC.

Naija News reports that the Enugu State APC tendered its unreserved apologies to Uzodinma and also cleared him of any wrongdoing in the crisis rocking the APC in the state.

The party, in a statement by its state secretary Robert Ngwu on Sunday, said it was sorry for dragging his name into the local politics of the APC in the state.

The party’s apology follows an alleged verbal attack of Uzodinma by some aggrieved leaders of the party in Enugu state last week.

Naija News reported last week that some leaders of the Enugu State chapter of the APC were absent on Wednesday from the party’s presidential campaign rally in the state.

According to them, they were not fully carried along as regards preparation for the rally which was held at Michael Okpara Square.

The Enugu APC leaders, who promised to work for Tinubu’s victory come what may, blamed the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma for allegedly hijacking the APC structure in Enugu State, and disorganising the party.

However, reacting to the attack by some aggrieved members of the APC in Enugu State, Ngwu named some aggrieved leaders of the party in the state, including former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, and former Enugu Governor, Barr. Sullivan Chime, and former Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Eugene Odoh, among others, as the mastermind of the attack on Uzodinma.

Ngwu said the APC leaders, who recently boycotted the presidential rally of the party in Enugu over some grievances, were victims of their own perfidy, accusing them of double-dealing and anti-party activities.

The Enugu APC said that it was not enough that the leaders stayed away from the rally, although their absence was not noticed, but that they had to address a press conference where they did not only de-market the party but made unfounded allegations and denigrating comments against party leaders in the zone, especially the governor of Imo State and South East Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Council.

Ngwu said: “Ordinarily, the APC Enugu state would have ignored the disgruntled leaders, but for their continuous vainglorious bandying of the name of Sen Hope Uzodimma, a dedicated party leader in the zone who has been making sacrificial efforts to grow the party in the zone.

“On behalf of the teeming and esteemed members of APC in Enugu state, we, therefore, tender an unreserved apology to Gov Uzodimma over these ceaseless insults and ungracious dragging of his name into the local politics of Enugu state by these semi-expired politicians.

“It is time the world noticed that these so-called leaders or ‘stakeholders’ had been the cancerous tumour killing the party in the state before they were excised through a delicate surgical procedure.

“At best, these are Abuja-based politicians who claim to be APC in Abuja and PDP in the state. They are, indeed, the PDAPC for all intents and purposes.

“We invite anybody who cares to carry out a simple investigation of the antecedents of these men in Enugu state since they joined the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party.

“Unmistakably, they are still tied to the umbilical cord of the PDP, as they had clandestinely worked for the PDP in past elections in the state.

“How else can one explain why these so-called APC leaders would post the results they did in the previous elections in the state where they not only lost their polling booths but the party itself only scored two per cent of votes in the state during the 2019 general elections?

“Yet these same people had, before the elections, pocketed the campaign funds and claimed they entered into a bargain with the PDP to be allocated 25 per cent of votes for the APC presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari. Alas! They all lost in their polling units with the dismal performance of the party in the state.

“This time, these politicians are at it again, scheming for the party’s campaign funds with the same sing-song of entering into a bargain with PDP to be allocated 25 per cent of votes in the state.”