A governorship aspirant in Ebonyi state under the All Progressive Congress, APC, Dr Adol Awam Chris on Wednesday said no ward Congress have so far been held in his Ebonyi Local Government Area.
Mr Awam also raised alarm of plans by some members of the state Working Committee of the party of trying to stage a kangaroo congress in his local government.
He accused some SWC members of working in conjunction with the John Oyegun led National Working Committee to write fake results and submit same to the National office so as fix delegates who will vote for them at the party’s state and national conventions in a desperate bid to retain their positions.
This is even as a member of the party Achi Simeon was attacked by some members of another faction of the party on his way to Mr Awam’s meeting.
Last Saturday’s local government ward congress in Ebonyi was marred with irregularities as two separate factions allegedly held parallel congress in the state.
The Eze Nwachukwu led faction which enjoys the support of Oyegun and the NWC had opted for harmonisation among party stakeholders so as to remove rancour and controver.
However, Mr Nwachukwu on Saturday night confirmed that four local governments including Ebonyi could not harmonise adding that a new date will be fixed for the conduct of the congress for them.
Also, the Congress committee Chairman had said any local government that fails to harmonise, a new date will be announced for the conduct of their own ward congress.
“But, yesterday without announcing it or informing us, some members of the party came and said they were coming to conduct congress”, Mr Awam told reporters at the Ugwuachara Primary School.
He was there to brief his constituents on the latest situation in the party with regards to the ward congress.
“There was nothing like congress in Ebonyi local government area whether on Saturday, Sunday or even today. If anybody presents any result at the party secretariat whether in the state or at the national headquarters then it is a doctored result”.
“On Saturday, the Committee sent to conduct congress said we should harmonise but we were not able to harmonise till now. But we got information from someone that our congress will hold today. But the Chairman did not inform me of this. I called INEC and they said they are not aware”.
“They said they got later from the party today notifying them of the inability of pour local government to conduct the election. They further told me that we have to give them at least 7 days in line with the electoral law to come and conduct the election”.
“So how will they conduct the congress for our local government without INEC or Police presence?”, Awa said.
While calling on the state chapter of the party to allow internal democracy in the party if the party must defeat the ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP), Mr Awam accused the National Working Committee of the party of orchestrating the crisis, violence and irregularities that characterized the exercises in many states of the federation to remain in power.
According to him, declaring harmonization in the congresses of the party without going to the field to enable members of the party to freely elect their leaders was undemocratic and unconstitutional
“We came from the ACN that formed this our great party, APC but the manipulation in the congress shows that they want to completely remove the ACN family from the APC in the scheme of things as far as Ebonyi state is concerned and we will not agree, I will take it up with to any level they want it”, he said.
Awam who was a former Chairman of the local government accused a faction of the party in the state of imposing harmonization in the congresses to sideline some leaders of the party and called for what he described as ‘real congress’ in Ebonyi local government area.
“As far as Ebonyi local government is concerned, there was no ward congress. A faction of the party cooked result and said congress has been conducted. I have already written to appeal panel and I will follow my petition to ensure that justice is done.
“I also wrote to the state Chairman of the party and he acknowledged the petition. I drew his mind to the electoral act which states that since the congress did not hold on the announced date, they have to give at least seven days before another one can hold and up till now, he has not told me there would be congress in my local government”, he stated.
Mr Nwachukwu did not take numerous calls placed to his phone. He also did not reply messages sent to him at press time.
Also Mr Bolaji Abdulahi, National Publicity Secretary of the party could equally not be reached for comments.
Meanwhile, Mr Simeon Achi narrated how he was attacked at Udensi roundabout for no other reason than he was supporting Mr Awam.
Mr Achi who said he was attacked near Udensi roundabout by three men sustained injuries on his face and hand from the attack.
“I was in a bus coming to this place from town. As we got to Udensi roundabout, someone wanted to drop so I came down to enable the person to alight from the bus. Then these three young men who were in the bus came down and started beating. They told me that they are attacking me because I was supporting Adol Awam. I don’t know their names but I know them by face, they are members of another faction of our party”, the victim said.
Opeifa maintained that derailments are not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that such incidents occur across advanced rail systems globally.
