Crisis appears to be brewing in the Abia state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) over the statement credited to the member of the Board of Trustee, (BOT) of the party, Prince Benjamin Apugo, accusing the seven governorship aspirants who contested for the 2019 governorship primaries, of being sponsored by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu.
One of the leading APC governorship aspirants in the 2019 primaries, Sir Friday Nwosu, has faulted Apugo’s statement describing it as false and intended to smear his hard earned reputation.
Apugo, had in the said interview, alleged that even the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Uche Ogah, now Minister of State for Mines and Steel, was also sponsored by Ikpeazu.
Nwosu explained that the statement was totally false and in bad faith, adding that he never got nor solicited for funds from anybody to run his governorship campaign.
He disclosed that Ikpeazu could not have bought APC governorship nomination form for him when he had two months before the primaries fought the governor to a legal battle to the Supreme Court before he decamped to the APC.
It will be recalled that Nwosu , who is renowned anti corruption crusader , human rights and constitutional lawyer, had taken Ikpeazu to court over alleged discrepancies in his tax documents, with the suit ending at the apex court on April 2018.
Nwosu said, “The statement credited to Chief Benjamin Apugo that Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu bought nomination form for all Abia governorship aspirants in 2018/19 election is to say the least, false and reckless. If Gov. Ikpeazu bought nomination form for any aspirant; certainly, he didn’t buy for me, Sir Friday Nwosu. Neither Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, Prince Benjamin Apugo nor any other person bought nomination form for me or contributed money to my governorship campaign. Even the journalist who is said to have interviewed Prince Apugo is aware that Gov. Ikpeazu could not have bought nomination form for me or sponsored me in the APC primaries.
“Few months to the APC governorship primaries, I ended a legal battle for the Abia governorship against Gov. Ikpeazu at the Supreme Court on 13th April 2018. By 2nd June 2018, I declared my intention to run for the governorship again on the platform of APC. I conducted my campaign without soliciting for funds from anybody.
“During my campaign, I also consulted with Prince Apugo without asking for financial assistance from him. Everyone in Abia State and Nigeria knows me and what I stand for. No one gave me money, I earned the money I spent by myself. Im not on anyone’s payroll. I’m a hardworking legal practitioner, I do what I do and I mean what I do. Prince Apugo knows me as a man of integrity in the state. This sweeping statement not only arose from fallacy of hasty generalization but also deliberate misinformation on the part of both the maker and publishers. I don’t want to join issues with Prince Apugo , but want to categorically state that it was a mistake and deliberate insult for him to have made such statement on my person.
Insisting that the offensive statement ought not to come from an elder of Prince Apugo’s status, he charged APC members in the state to be cautious about their utterances.