Oye must go! Aggrieved APGA aspirants tell Obiano
The crises generated by the controversial primaries of the All Progressives grand Alliance (APGA) got messier as aggrieved aspirants in Anambra State have passed a vote of no confidence on the National Chairman of the party, Ozomkpu Victor Oye and gave three weeks ultimatum to the party within which period to effect the decision.
Similarly, the aggrieved aspirants resolved on the immediate and unconditional resignation of the State Chairman, Chief Nobert Obi and the suspension of the State Working Committee on the grounds of gross abuse of office and fraudulent extraction of huge sums of money from aspirants in the name of the party.
There were among the resolutions of the aggrieved aspirants operating under the Forum of Anambra Aggrieved APGA Aspirants and read by its spokesman, Retired Captain Barrister Casmir Nwafor after a bickering meeting with the State Reconciliation Committee headed by Dr (Mrs) Uju Okeke, a former Commissioner for Education.
In the resolution, the Forum’s spokesman alleged that ‘the National Chairman with his cohorts duped the aspirants of their hard-earned money in the name of the party and the guise of conducting party primaries, and frowned on what iForum described as “the fraudulent, objectionable, despicable and odious actions of the APGA National Chairman and his National Working Committee as well as the Anambra State APGA Chairman towards the party and her aspirants.”
He pointed out expressed angst that in some constituencies, aspirants who won the primaries were denied Certificate of Return whilst some aspirants had more votes than the total number of accredited voters.
He said that the grievances of the aspirants was sequel to the shabby primaries conducted by the party, and expressed worry over what the Forum termed “the silence and neglect by the Board of Trustees’ Chairman, Governor Willie Obiano, towards the cataclysm and and havoc caused by the National Chairman and his National Working Committee.”
The statement of the Forum’s speaker called on governor Obiano to make a public condemnation of the al;leged fraudlent acts of certain Executives and members of the party and retrieval of positions from persons who participated in the touted duping of the aspirants in the party’s name and primaries.
Additionally, he said; “The governor should as a matter of urgency and in the interest of the party summon all aggrieved aspirants in the state to a peace meeting”, even as he insisted that that efforts should be made to consult all stakeholders and reconcile with them to ensure smooth election, failing which the party might be defeated in the elections.
According to the statement, there were either no concluded primaries or glaring non-conduct of primaries by APGA in all the wards in the state, yet results were declared and winners returned by alleged incompetent organizers of the primaries.
The resolution further condemned the exorbitant price of delegate forms hiked from N1000 to N10,000 in addition to payment of extra huge amount of money before the delegates forms were collected, among other extractions, and called for refund of all such monies collected by the party.
Captain Nwafor equally lamented the issuance of Certificate of Return to alleged inexperienced/unqualified aspirants some of who he claimed are unpopular and not members of APGA, and lack credibility to win elections, calling for substitution of such candidates with questionable credentials and those who face irreconcilable opposition by their stakeholders in order to save the party from losing the seats either the polls or in the election tribunals.
The resolutions reached after the Forum’s meeting at JJJ/Operation Takeover South-east zone dated November 4, 2018 was issued and signed by Hon. Owelle Mbaso (Chairman), Captain Barrister Casmir Nwafor (Representative, Anambra South Zone), Hon. Samuel Ezendiuka (Representative, Anambra South), Hon. Ifemene Ifeanyi Oreke (Representative, Anambra North).
The rest of the signatories were Hon. Mrs Ifeoma Onwudiwe (Representative, Anambra North), Hon. Ezeude JohnUgochukwu (Representative, Anambra Central;), and Hon. Engineerr Ezekiel Nwokoye (Representative, Anambra Central) and Barrister Chisom Chude (Secretary).
By Osiberoha Osibe