The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has rendered unreserved apologies to Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State over wild allegations against him by some disgruntled leaders of the party in the state.
Some leaders of the party in the state including former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani and former Enugu Governor, Barr. Sullivan Chime, former Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Eugene Odoh, among others, had stayed out of the campaign rally of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu last Wednesday in Enugu and organised a press conference where they, among other things, alleged that the Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, had hijacked the party and was running the party affairs using mediocrity and causing crisis in the state.
But, reacting to the allegations in a statement issued by the state secretary of the party, Hon. Robert Ngwu, Enugu APC which described them as disgruntled leaders of the party in the State, said their vituperation was their usual game plan of de-marketing the party in the state because of their alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The statement read in part: “It was not enough that these self-styled leaders stayed away from the rally, thinking their absence was not noticed. Still, they engaged at the same time in their usual pastime of not only de-marketing the party but making unfounded allegations and denigrating comments against party leaders in the zone, especially the Governor of Imo State and Southeast Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Council, Sen Hope Uzodimma.
“Although, some were sighted at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu earlier in the day to welcome the party’s presidential candidate, Tinubu, they disappeared to Chime’s residence in Enugu for the infamous press conference.
“The former governor, Chime, was quoted by the press to have said that they were at the airport to receive the Presidential candidate, but because of internal issues, they were not at the venue properly for the rally.
“Ordinarily, the APC Enugu state would have ignored the disgruntled leaders, but for their continuous vainglorious bandying of the name of Sen Hope Uzodimma, a dedicated party leader in the zone who has been making sacrificial efforts to grow the party in the zone.
“On behalf of the teeming and esteemed members of APC in Enugu State, we, therefore, tender an unreserved apology to Governor Uzodimma over these ceaseless insults and ungracious dragging of his name into the local politics of Enugu state by these semi-expired politicians.
“It is time the world noticed that these so-called leaders or “takeholders” had been the cancerous tumour killing the party in the state before they were excised through a delicate surgical procedure.
“At best, these are Abuja-based politicians who claim to be APC in Abuja and PDP in the state. They are, indeed, the PDAPC for all intents and purposes.
We invite anybody who cares to carry out a simple investigation of the antecedents of these men in Enugu state since they joined the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party. Unmistakably, they are still tied to the umbilical cord of the PDP, as they had clandestinely worked for the PDP in past elections in the state.
“How else can one explain why these so-called APC leaders would post the results they did in the previous elections in the state where they not only lost their polling booths but the party itself only scored two per cent of votes in the state during the 2019 general elections?
“Yet these same people had, before the elections, pocketed the campaign funds and claimed they entered into a bargain with the PDP to be allocated 25 per cent of votes for the APC presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari. Alas! They all lost in their polling units with the dismal performance of the party in the state.
“This time, these politicians are at it again, scheming for the party’s campaign funds with the same sing-song of entering into a bargain with PDP to be allocated 25 per cent of votes in the state”, the statement said.
