Leadership tussle between Senators Chris Ngige and Andy Uba, sets Anambra chapter of APC on edge.
By Emeka Alex Duru
Smarting from the defeat handed on it by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6 governorship election, Anambra state wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been enmeshed in leadership tussle between its candidate in the poll, Senator Emmanual Andy Uba and the Minister for Labour, Chris Ngige.
The friction has resulted in the two groups holding different caucus meetings and adopting Uba and Ngige as leaders, respectively. Each held its meeting in Abuja on Friday, December 10.
At its meeting held in Maitama, the group loyal to Uba adopted a motion affirming him as the authentic Leader of the State Chapter of the party. The communique from the parley was signed by Senator Uba and state caretaker committee chairman, Basil Ejidike.
In sharp contrast, the group sympathetic to Ngige also held its own meeting in Asokoro, where it affirmed the Minister as the Leader of the APC in Anambra. The meeting was chaired by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agunwa Anaekwe.
The Uba faction maintained that the decision to affirm him the leader was in tandem with the standing paradigm that the current gubernatorial candidate of the party becomes the leader of the party in the state.
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The meeting, it was gathered, was attended by former Senators, current and former members of the House of Representatives, current and former Presiding and Principal Officers of the State House of Assembly, 14 out of 17 members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the Party, a former Minister, current and former zonal and national officers of the Party, as well as the governorship and deputy governorship candidates of the Party in the recently held Anambra gubernatorial election.
Among those in attendance were Senator Andy Uba and his deputy, Barrister Emeka Okafor, Senators Ik Obiora and Emma Anosike, Honourables Linda Ikpeazu, Vincent Ofumelu, Chidi Duru, Chiedu Eluemunor, Jerry Ugokwe, Ralph Okeke, Fort Dike, Chuma Nzeribe, Afam Ogene, Chizor Obidigwe and Peter Madubueze.
From the Anambra State House of Assembly were former Speakers, Ben Chuks Nwosu and Chinwe Nwaebeli; former and current Principal Officers, Ebele Obi and Lawrence Ezeudu, amongst five other serving members.
Also in attendance were former Minister of Transportation, John Emeka, former National Auditor, Paul Chukwuma, zonal Youth Leader, Olisaemeka Onyeka, and the State Chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike.
Other members of the SWC, who are members of the State Caucus, present were the deputy state chairman, Anaedobe Johnbosco, State Treasurer, Chris Udenze, Women Leader, Callista Nwachukwu, State Youth Leader, Augustine Mumoaife, Special(Physically Challenged) Leader, Obi Ndigwe.
Also in attendance was the zonal chairman, North, Ezenwa Ekwuaju and zonal chairman, South, Izuchukwu Okeke.
According to the release, in line with Section 12:9(xviii) of the APC Constitution 2014(As Amended), which requires the admittance of two other leaders per senatorial zone to join the State Caucus, the following, Barrister C.J Chinwuba and Melville Ebo, North; Dozie Ikedife and Chidi Ogbaji, South; and Dennis Ngene and Chibuzor Obiakor were also in attendance.
The Caucus received briefing from Ejidike on the State of the Party in Anambra, and accepted and adopted the Report given by the Chairman. These included the suspension handed down to the former state secretary, Chukwuma Agufugo and erstwhile Publicity Secretary, Okelo Madukaife.
But in a riposte, Madukaife dismissed the Uba-led team, describing it as a splinter voice that means nothing. He argued that in moments of crisis in political parties, it is not unusual to have splinter voices, arguing that whatever that emanates from Uba and his group as regards events in the Anambra chapter of the All Progressives Congress should be discountenanced.
According to Madukaife, the true position of things in the state’s wing of the party, had been articulated in a meeting of the combined emergency caucus and executive meeting of the party, chaired by Anaekwe.
The communique of the meeting, signed by Anaekwe, took note of the the factions in the state caretaker/working committee of the party and called on the national caretaker and extra ordinary convention committee to dissolve the present caretaker committee of the party in Anambra and put in place a seven-man interim management committee to manage the affairs of the party in the state and oversee the conduct of all the congresses of the APC in the state in January.
The caucus reaffirmed the Minister of Labour, Sen. Chris Ngige as the leader of the party in the state.