The move by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile the two factions of All Progressive Congress, APC, in Ebonyi State chapter yesterday ended in deadlock.
The meeting lasted for 3 hours but all efforts by President Buhari to put to an end the crisis failed to materialise as the two factional chairmen: Ben Nwaobasi and Eze Nwachukwu continued to lay claim to be in charge of the party leadership.
It was gathered that the two factions, one loyal to Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu and another loyal to 2015 governorship candidate of the party, Sen Ali Ucha have been embroiled in a leadership tussle which began before the 2015 elections.
While the Ucha faction has Ben Nwobashi as its Chairman, the Onu group have Mr Ben Nwobasi’s Vice Chairman as its Chairman after purportedly impeaching Nwobasi in 2015.
But the Nwobasi group went to court even before the purported impeachment and got a restraining order barring the party from effecting a change in the leadership of the party. The matter is still in court.
Buhari, who paid a two day working visit to the state, was expected to use the opportunity to call both factions to order and settle the dispute so that the party can mount a strong challenge to the ruling Peoples Democratic party in the state, led by Governor david Umahi.
But that did not materialise, as Buhari, it was reliably gathered from a source in the meeting, advised both factions to sheath their sword, reconcile and close ranks.
Signs that the crisis may not be resolved was noticed when the Nwachukwu faction tried to lock out stalwarts from the Nwobasi faction from the meeting with President Buhari on Wednesday Morning.
But the plan failed as some stakeholders, especially Mr Chinedu Ogah, who have been to the Aso Rock Villa repeatedly were recognised by some Security Aides to the President and were allowed into the meeting which held at presidential lodge of Government House Abakaliki.
After the meeting, both factional Chairmen briefed Journalists separately with both sides giving a different account of what transpired in the meeting.
For Nwachukwu, the meeting resolved the crisis and the thirteen members of the State Working Committee, SWC, have reconciled with his faction.
He also said the party complained of the highhandedness of the Governor, David Umahi and how he has been intimidating party faithful by shutting down businesses of some of them.
“We discussed with Mr. President the callousness of the present government in the state, the pains and the afflictions he has unleashed on the APC family in the state. We made it clearly to the president and we are happy he has promised to address them in full, even as we prepare for the visit of our national Chairman to recruit more members into the party.
“The leadership crisis is gone. Today, I made presentations to Mr. President. The 13 members State Working Committee (SWC) of the part have returned. That happened a day before the visit of our President. So the crisis is over.”
He also debunked the allegations levelled against Ogbonnaya Onu by Governor Umahi on Tuesday in his address, where he accused the Minister of frustrating the state government’s efforts to access a loan from African Development Bank and Islamic bank to reconstruct the Abakaliki ring road.
“We have debunked that allegation. The Plaintiffs to that matter are concerned citizens of Ebonyi state. None of the appointee of Mr. President in the state is a plaintiff to that matter”, he said.
But Mr Ben Nwaobasi disagreed with Nwachukwu stating that he was still the Chairman of the party as the matter is still in court.
“The leadership crisis has not been resolved. The matters are still in court. One of it is coming up on 23rd of this month.
“The first judgment we got, they have appealed it in the Court of Appeal in Enugu. The matter is not over. Anybody telling you that the matter is over is just fabricating some lies”.
“I am still the authentic elected chairman of APC in the state. There is no provision of caretaker chairmen or whatever in our party constitution. If you like, I can give you a letter where the national secretary wrote withdrawing a letter earlier issued to him as acting chairman.
“The SWC members are still with me. What happened was that we were asked to come with about ten persons each and you can see, none of them is here, because we came with our leaders. So, is not true”, he said.
He also threw more light on why the president did not delve into the leadership crisis but only advised them to settle for the sake of the party.
“Well, you don’t expect that because, one, the President is not the national chairman or an executive officer of the party.
“Of course, he may not understand that there some skirmishes in APC in Ebonyi state.
“So, Mr. President would not ordinarily delve into a matter that does not concern him”, he said.
He said that plans to shut out his group by Nwachukwu faction’s failed as he and his supporters were still able to gain entry into the venue of the meeting.
“It was ok. The President addressed us and advised us as father to come together and work as a team. The Labour party people think that they are so strong, so powerful and money bags and they feel they can use their money to push us out of the party.
“Even in this arrangement (referring to the meeting with the President), they felt they are very close to the President, wanted to have his way but God in his own will always have his own way and that was what happened. And so we thank God.
“We must always continue to pray to God for unity and future of our party. I also want to thank the Press for having been following this matter and making balanced and robust publication about this matter.
”They (Nwachukwu’s faction) made a lot of allegations against the state government; that the state government has revoked some certificates of occupancy of the son of Prince Chibueze Agbo (an APC stalwart whose school was closed for failure to pay tax). They also said that the loan in question, should not be granted. But the President in his wisdom has advised us to go and work as a team and as an opposition so that we can win election come 2019”, Nwachukwu added.
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