APGA Acting National Chairman, Ozo Nwabueze Mario Okafor (Okpoche Ngene), declared that the party will not field Obiano for the election as long as he hangs on to the sacked National Chairman of APGA, Dr Victor Ike Oye.
At his maiden press briefing since members of the National Working Committee (NWC) removed Oye from office, he said: “We have no interest in who replaces Dr Oye. The party elders, the stakeholders and the teeming members of the party can choose whoever they deem fit. Even the National Leader can choose whoever he feels he would be comfortable with, even if it is his brother. Once it is ratified, we have no problem with it. But we can no longer work with the suspended chairman. Any move to retain him simply means the end is close for the party.”
Oye was recently suspended at the party’s meeting in Abuja. Since then, Governor Obiano has tried to broker peace without success.
Okafor insisted that for Obiano to get the party’s ticket, “Oye must go.”
He admitted that Obiano, who is Chairman, APGA Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Leader, called a meeting to resolve the crisis and appealed to all parties to sheathe their swords.
“We had a meeting with the Governor who did all within his powers to see the resolution of the crisis. But while we were still trying to seek the way forward, the suspended National Chairman went haywire and called the people who legally and constitutionally suspended him dissidents, rebels, renegades. He said we were settled with spaghetti, egusi soup and money so as to abandon the course we have taken. We actually took serious exception to that. And therefore, we have come to a painful decision to enlighten the public on the crisis. We regret doing this, having taken all necessary steps to ensure that all issues concerning this be treated within the party but Dr Oye has made things practically impossible,” Okafor said.
•Excepted from a report by The AUTHORITY. Photo shows Governor Obiano.
