All may not be well with the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the South-East, as prominent leaders of the party in the zone declined to attend a stakeholders parley held in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, today, April 2nd.

Absent at the stakeholders’ parley were: former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Labour Minister, Senator Chris Ngige; 2023 Governorship candidate of APC in Abia, Chief Ikechi Emenike; former Abia State Governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu; former Ebonyi State Governor and current Works and Housing Minister, and Senator Dave Umahi. Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru was represented by his deputy.

However, ministers from the South-East who attened were the Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Nkeiru Onyejeocha; and Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy Ohanenye.

Also at the event were former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim; Senator Ifeanyi Uba, Senator Ostia Izunaso; the member representing Okigwe South Federal Constituency, Chike Okafor; former governorship candidate in Imo state, Uche Nwosu; five state chairmen of the APC in the South East region among others.

Speaking at the event, National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, called on the members of the party in the South-East to forgive themselves and reconcile in the interest of the APC.

He urged them to join hands with the newly appointed coordinator of the South-East APC, and Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to archive a result and make APC a united party in the zone.

Ganduje, who was represented by the Deputy National Chairman, South, Emma Enukwu, said: “We thank God who made this event a success. We are working seriously to continue the success and I want to say this: Hope Uzodimma is a success for the South-East.

“The National Chairman had told me he wanted to congratulate the Imo people for the winning of 27/27 in the last governorship elections and kudos to the people of Imo State.

The party will soon start e-registration; the last one we did we registered over 80 million. The e-registration will be biometric. The Chairman of the governors and the coordinator of the South-East, will lead the e-registration exercise.

“The party is working towards making sure that each ward and LGA, has functional offices and that is the usual way to make sure that we are at the grassroots. The most important thing is the reconciliation, we need to join the national grid and the only way to do it is to join the national grid.

All we are doing is to make sure that at least the APC produced the President of Nigeria. The chairman has asked me to tell you to reconcile yourselves, forgive yourselves and work together.”

We’re moving round five states to reconcile our members – Uzodimma

Governor Uzodimma, who is the host, said: “What I have seen in this hall made me drop my written speech so that I can talk to my people heart-to-heart and because of the level of attendance. We thank God. This meeting is strategic and symbolic. I commend the President for understanding the precarious situation in the South-East and also the national chairman who understood the South-East is grossly marginalized and he is working to de-marginalize the zone.

“In today’s South-East the setback caused by the civil war should have provoked a new appetite to promote activities of the South-East. Somehow our people have not recovered from the sentiment of the civil war. Given the current situation we must challenge ourselves and leave lamentations and move forward.

“In APC, our task now is to connect to the national grid. The country was formed on a three tripod the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, the two legs have decided to move forward and expand and the one leg which is the Igbo is shrinking. We must stop pulling ourselves down. Let us forgive ourselves. And let us support President Bola Tinubu in his policies and programmes. The Federal government has supported the state governments with palliatives.

“We are going round the South-East to reconcile all our members in the five states of the region. I have been given this assignment. I will not allow the South-East to languish because someone somewhere is gossiping.”

Governor of Ebonyi State, Ogbonna Nwifuru, who was represented by his deputy, Patricia Onyemachi, said: “We need brotherhood. We need to put our house together. We need to use our talents, and what we have to move our party and the South-East forward.”

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who was represented by Matins Azubuike, said said the deputy Speaker was happy with the show of solidarity for the South-East to move forward, and “urged us to be patient as the policies of President Tinubu begins to bear fruit. The passage of the South East Development Commission bill is to reposition the South-East. Therefore, let us in the South-East work together for the success of the party. “

Senator Izunaso, who spoke on behalf of over 18 senators and House of Representatives members, who attended the event said: “APC has seven senators, also in the House of Representatives, we have 12 members across the South-East zone. Why we have been able to still talk about the APC was because Hope Uzodimma was supporting them. We thank Uzodimma for making APC strong in Imo State and the five states of the APC.”

On his part, National Vice Chairman of APC, South East zone, Ijeomah Arodiogbu, said: “It is a crucial meeting. After the presidential election, we saw the winning in Imo where we scored 27 over 27, which has given us the bragging rights. We also won at the Ebonyi off-season election. We need structural funding because of the debt we are owing so that we can function well. One of the challenges is that some of our office holders have given appointments to more opposition members. We appeal that our office holders should focus more on the empowerment of our APC members.

“The mantra of our president is renewed hope and the name of our governor, Hope Uzodimma is resounding to the name renewed hope. We know where we are coming from, we have to endure the pains and have hope we are coming out. We will soon come out of it.”

VANGUARD