You Can’t Hijack Our Party – APC To Ekweremadu

BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to abandon his desperate moves at ‘hijacking’ the party’s governorship ticket and join the party in good faith.

Clearly indicating that its gubernatorial ticket is not for sale, the APC maintained the plans to selfishly take over the APC’s structures in Enugu to promote an individual agenda that cannot work because it is evil.

The Party’s State chairman, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah stated this position while reacting to speculations around Ekweremadu’s political future following his withdrawal from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship primary election last week.

Chief Agballah admitted to newsmen in Enugu on Sunday that the party has been resisting pressures mounted by the lawmaker on the APC in Abuja to grab its ticket, saying; “Ekweremadu is a man I have great respect for. We have held discussions, on the need for him to come and join us as a member of the party, the same way I met other people.

“I reached out to him before our primary, but he informed me in the presence of the Southeast chairman of our party, that we should give him our ticket for the governorship position.

“Even after our primary, he is still insisting that we should give him the ticket and I’m baffled because his demand is repugnant to natural justice, at variance with the Electoral Act, which he is one of the makers.

“His demand is evil, ignoble, shows that a man does not change his colour. He is in court claiming that he was subverted during the PDP primary, but the same man is now running up and down, disturbing us and mobilizing Senators to prevail on our national chairman to subvert the Electoral Act.

“The Electoral Act is clear, nobody can give him a waiver to undo what we did. Uche Nnaji is our candidate; he emerged after a primary election duly observed by INEC.

“We want Ekweremadu to be our member but we cannot give him our governorship ticket. These are some of the things that give a bad image to Nigerian politicians.

“Ekweremadu wants to be governor but the position was not even zoned to Enugu West, but he wants to take Enugu East turn. Now, he wants to come and subvert APC, where I am the chairman. And I ask, what kind of a man is Ekweremadu, who is this Ekweremadu?

“He is not a member of APC and he is demanding our ticket, is he now blinded by ambition. If I see him at my party, I will treat him like a mad man.

“His demands portend grave danger to our political system. I will not allow desperados to come and scatter what we have laboured for.

“Ekweremadu has been in power for 24 years, he should support others. It must not be about him all the time. We are not operating an absolute monarchy.”