An almost intractable crisis is unsettling the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Enugu state. Some political watchers in the state had claimed that
the crisis plaguing the Enugu chapter of the APC was largely rooted in the
presidential aspiration of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Some members of the Party said the crisis began when pro-Atiku sympathizers
made effort to “hijack” the Buhari Support Group by changing it to
Integrity Group but were resisted by the resilience of some staunch Buhari
men.
However, others disagreed but blamed the rumble on alleged financial
misappropriation by the Chairman of the state chapter of the Party, Ben
Nwoye, and his cohorts.
According to reliable sources in the party, the crisis began immediately
after President Muhammadu Buhari was declared the winner of the 2015
Presidential election and further escalated between June and July this
year, when the party was embroiled in a mess of suspension and
counter-suspension of some members of the State Working Committee (SWC) and
other members of the party.
It was further learnt that the grouse of some caucus members of the APC
with Nwoye also had to do with his domineering attitude and total control
of the party’s machineries in Enugu which totally hamstrung the Party at
all level in the last general elections in 2015.
A caucus member, who spoke under anonymity, said the most surprising is the
decision of the national leadership of the Party to play the ostrich
despite the many petitions filed before it; calling for thorough
investigation into the finances of the Party under the leadership of Ben
Nwoye.
Just last week, the Forum of APC Women Leader, Enugu state chapter
petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the
National Chairman of the Party through their lawyer, Dom Ezeani, alleging
that Ben Nwoye ignored the directive from the Party’s national leadership
to buy Sienna buses with N20.4m given to Enugu chapter of the Party.
The Sienna buses were to be for the women wing, youth wing, State secretary
and Chairman of the Party for easy grassroots mobilization ahead of the
last general elections.
The Forum confirmed that the money was fully paid to the state chapter but
Nwoye only bought Sienna bus for himself, documenting the car in his
company’s name. The registration number of the said car is “LAGOS AKD
347DR”.
Sequel to that, Nwoye could not account for the balance of the money.
According to our source, Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita
Okechukwu, had also written a petition against Nwoye alleging lack of
transparency and working at cross purposes with other members of SWC.
The source said Nwoye, in his reaction, allegedly blackmailed Okechukwu
with a threat to expose how he diverted the sum of N100, 000 given to him
for each of the 113 delegates of the state to the 2014 APC Presidential
Primaries by the Buhari’s Campaign Committee.
Multiple sources say that out of N150, 000 set aside for each delegate,
Okechukwu paid N50, 000 but promised to balance up in time. However, he has
failed to do so three years on.
“Osita Okechukwu collected N150, 000 each from Buhari Campaign Organisation
during the last Presidential primary for all the 113 delegates and shared
only N50,000 each. Please, do the math and find out how much he pocketed.
Little wonder, he started supporting Ben Nwoye after petitioning him for
financial misappropriation because Nwoye blackmailed him with these facts,”
a source said.
However, when the DG-VON was contacted for his reaction and to clear his
name, he said: “Kindly, contact Col. Hammed Ali (rtd), current CG of
Customs. He was the then Chief of Staff to Mr. President. Comrade Adolphus
Ude collected Enugu Delegates’ money from him in my presence. Ali disbursed
the money himself. If you speak with him, his position will clear the
malicious allegations from some renegades. Methinks, he has no need to tell
lies.”
Contacted, Adolphus Ude denied having anything to do with Col. Hammed Ali
(rtd) with regards to the Enugu delegates’ money from Buhari.
When we sought for substance behind the report in a national newspaper
which claims that the battle for the structure and soul of the APC in Enugu
by some person close to ex-VP Atiku Abubakar (ahead of the 2019 elections)
was the real reason unsettling the Party in Enugu, nothing was discovered.
The state spokesperson for the Party, Madam Kate Offor, dismissed the
report.
She said that “2019 cannot be the issue the origin of the rumble in Enugu
Chapter of the Party. I can authoritatively tell you that it is the
inordinate ambition of a few to wrestle power from the state Chairman, Ben
Nwoye that originated the crisis.
“Nwoye was duly elected and his chairmanship was endorsed severally by the
National leadership of our Party. So, those accusing him of financial
impropriety are doing so for reasons best known to them and that is tearing
our Party apart. If monies were truly embezzled, common sense should tell
anyone interested in the finances of the party in the state that one man
cannot siphon election funds.
“So, why must it be only Nwoye that is mentioned everywhere? Please, Nwoye
should be left alone to continue his work of building the Party into a
cohesive force ahead of 2019 by his attracting of high profile politicians
in the state to the Party
“But I must say that emphatically that 2019 is not the issue unsettling APC
in Enugu after all we had Kwankwaso structures, Atiku structures, and
Buhari structures at all levels of the Party before 2015 yet we worked as
one and emerged victorious at the end of the day,” Offor said.
When Ben Nwoye was reached on telephone for comments, he accused our
reporter of being an impostor who wanted to mine sensitive information from
him for ignoble purposes. “I will not speak to you, if not face-to-face.
Anybody can call me on phone; claiming to be a journalist. If you want to
hear from me, come and see me face-to-face.”
On his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who is also
the leader of the Party in Enugu, pleaded for peace and also called for
dialogue among key stakeholders.
He said due process, transparency, accountability and fair-hearing as
enunciated by the constitution of the APC should be adhered to in handling
Party affairs.