The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, on Monday called for the cancellation of the result of
the ward congress of the All Progressives Congress, APC, held last Saturday in
Enugu state, stressing that the exercise was highly flawed.
Onyeama made the call even as the
Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, Mr. Osita Okechukwu described
the exercise as “peaceful and transparent”.
Briefing newsmen at the Golden
Royal Hotel in company of the Special Adviser to the President on Judicial
Reform, Juliet Ibekaku, and other chieftains of the party, the Minister alleged
that the election materials and party officials sent to conduct the congress
absconded with the materials.
He said up till the time of the
briefing he, as the leader of the party in Enugu State, had neither seen
officials sent from Abuja nor had he seen the election materials.
In Onyeama’s words, “As I speak,
I have not seen material for this congress neither have I seen the officials
from Abuja who supposed to monitor the congress.
“I am supposed to be the leader
of this party in Enugu State but, I can tell you that I didn’t see officials
who supposed to conduct the congress or even know them.
“The congress was very
heart-worming, you can see the enthusiasm of the people who came out here and
every transparent process of voting. I am very happy and satisfied with what we
have seen.
“I have come here to preach peace
and transparency. We don’t believe in grabbing power at all cost. Mr. President
has said it a million and one times that we don’t believe in having a
non-transparency process.
“So I have come here to witness
the process by myself, to be part of the process and make sure it is an
inclusive and transparent. That is what we have come here to do.”
Meanwhile, the VON DG, in his
reaction, described the congress as peaceful and rancor free.
His words, “To the best of my
knowledge neither was anybody marginalized nor any material hijacked. Please
ask anybody who complains of marginalization to show you the Bank Slip he used
to buy forms and was denied buying forms?
“For the forms can also be bought
from either the national or state secretariat. Mrs Juliet Ibekaku Nwagu, and
his hatchet man, Ejike Njeze, for instance deliberately alienated the
grassroots party structures and hoped to reap where they didn’t sew.
“Is it possible to win from
Abuja? Njeze kept deceiving my brother the Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs; His
Excellency, Geofrey Onyeama telling him all manner of lies. He made him to come
late to the Ward Congress, 1pm after the Congress has ended.
“We recover our brother from them
Methinks lessons had been learnt for those who lived on assumption, for
assumption is mother of all mistakes.
“All the major stakeholders, from
our elder statesmen, His Excellencies – Jim Nwobodo, Ken Nnamani, Emma Eneukwu,
Emperor Baywood Ibe to Group Capt Orji, are all commending the peaceful and
successful Ward Congress.
“And only a handful are
complaining. As they say the majority will surely have their way and minority
will have their say”, Okechukwu said.
Recall that the APC congress
ended dramatically in Eke ward, Enugu State on Saturday as the entrance of the
Minister to the venue led to a faceoff between a few of his supporters and the
majority who refused to be cowed by the presence of armed security operatives.
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