Enugu governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Uche Nnaji has identified Tinubu’s campaign fund ahead the 2023 elections as the main cause of.the recent crisis in the party.
Some party stakeholders led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani recently led some stakeholders to Abuja calling for the sack of the state Chairman Barr. Ugochukwu Agballa.
But in his speech after a stakeholders meeting in Enugu Sunday, the party guber candidate Uche Nnaji alleged that the tussle is all about the Tinubu campaign fund.
“It’s not new. The same thing happened during the last election. The Abuja politicians will always create crisis to ensure they control part of the election funds.
“It will not work this time because we are going to reach out to Tinubu not to send any money to Enugu.”
He said that members of the party in Enugu State will contribute money to fund the election campaign of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the state.
Nnaji also said that stakeholders in the party in the state will not wait for the party to give them money to be able to fund the election campaigns.
He noted that the need to make personal contributions ahead of the campaigns and election was to stop people whose stock in trade was to hijack election funds in the name of party stakeholders.
He said, already, some mercantile politicians who claim to be stakeholders of the party in the state had started positioning to hijack campaign funds rather than working for the party’s victory.
He disclosed that one of their antics was the demand for removal of the state executive of the party by some of the stakeholders, who are largely based in Abuja.
“You cannot remove a performing executive of a party just six months to election. We cannot allow that to happen. We want to be small but effective
“Their interest is to hijack the presidential campaign funds like they did in 2015 and 2019 elections and share it among themselves. But we have already caught them in their track.
“We have therefore decided that we will tell our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and APC national chairman not to bring his campaign money to Enugu because it’s a target for which the so-called stakeholders want to destroy our party in Enugu. Bringing the money will cause more confusion.
“We don’t need Tinubu’s money to work for his victory in Enugu in 2023. We will use our money to work for Tinubu and go for a refund after elections”, Nnaji said.
He used the opportunity to inform all party members, especially the stakeholders to return home to the state and work for the party at the grassroots level and stop playing Abuja politics.
He continued, “We’re not pushing anyone away. We’re only asking all the so-called stakeholders to come home and put their money in this party.
“To that effect, all the stakeholders have to put their money in our campaigns to be able to answer stakeholders. After elections, we will go to Tinubu and APC yo ask for a refund of all we have spent”.
Nnaji assured the stakeholders that APC was on the verge of changing election narratives in the state.
“Before now, APC was never a political party. Some people used the party to negotiate for money. Another party was paying their salaries.This mischief these people are trying to create won’t go anywhere”, he declared.
The stakeholders, who passed a vote of confidence on the state chairman of the party, Chief Ugochukwu Agballa, assured that they would carry out a purpose driven campaign ahead of the elections.
