For Speaking out against the impunity that almost marred the just concluded Ward Congress in Enugu State a group of former All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants have accused the state caretaker chairman of the party, Barr. Ben Nwoye of fueling another round of crisis in the party.
Not seeing anything wrong with the disappearance of result sheets and other sensitive materials across the wards the group condemned the Chairman for inaugurating the duly elected ward executives of the party.
Nwoye had on Tuesday inaugurated the 260 ward executives elected last Saturday during the well attended and peaceful congress of the party at ward level in the state.
He had said, “The leadership of the party gave us the go ahead to conduct the congress and there is nothing in our constitution that prohibits me from inaugurating you.”
Nwoye, also accused some leaders of the party of attempting to truncate the process.
But the former aspirants – Tagbo Ogara, Ben Eche and Ginika Tor as well other party leaders like Ejike Njeze- who addressed journalists on Wednesday in Enugu, accused Nwoye of acting ‘ultra vires’ because, according to them, he did not have the approval of the national secretariat of the party.
Speaking on behalf of the former aspirants and other stakeholders, Chief Ben Eche described the action as unlawful, illegal and deserving of heavy sanctions from the party leadership.
Eche noted that the congress was peaceful and violence free, with the congress committee collating the results with a view to submitting same to the national leadership of the party for ratification.
He said, “What Nwoye has done is not party process. The party process is well defined. The election result is announced in the wards. You know the elected people.
“The party guidelines say that seven days after the Congress, you bring in your matter for those that have grievances.
“The election took place on Saturday 31 July but, Ben Nwoye inaugurated on 3rd of August in clear breach of the party guidelines. The result has not been released and the national body has not even endorsed the results. So, where does Ben Nwoye get his grievances from, how much more inauguration? He has not even exhausted any internal mechanism of the party and he rushed to inaugurate.
“The illegality is such that the party is supposed to have 27-member executives but what Nwoye inaugurated was 5-member executives from each ward.
“As far as we are concerned, the party caretaker chairman has acted ultra vires. He acted beyond his powers. It is not in his powers to do what he has done. It is illegal and it’s condemnable.
“We are therefore warning him to desist from the actions that are capable of plunging the party into another round of crisis. The party leadership should equally discipline him for such action”.
