Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State on Wednesday boycotted the presidential campaign rally held at Michael Okpara Square in the state capital, Enugu.
The stakeholders were at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu to welcome the Presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and disappeared from there.
The stakeholders were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Governor of the state, Mr Sullivan Chime; and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Eugene Odo, among others.
Briefing journalists, Chime said that the stakeholders were at the airport to receive the presidential candidate but due to the internal issues they had with the state chairman, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, they would not appear at the rally.
He recalled that the stakeholders had staged a peaceful protest at its National Secretariat in Abuja over the chairman’s attitude and regretted that nothing was done about it.
The former governor said that someone not known by the party emerged as the party chairman and since then, the party had been in disarray.
He also complained that the governorship candidate of the party and the deputy were from the same senatorial zone noting that it had never happened since the history of democracy.
The former governor said they would all work hard to ensure APC’s victory during the general election but they were left with no option but to distance themselves from such an illegal act.
Subsequently, the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani while expressing his anger, said the party had external interference.
He said that the party chairman in the State and the Governorship candidate were running the party like a Sole Administrator.
Nnamani said that they neglected their leaders in all the party’s activities pointing out that the calibre of people they had in APC were people that could take the party to a greater height.
He, however, said that if the mess did not stop, there would be no peace in the state.
Also contributing, the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Eugene Odo, said that the rally was not witnessed by the party leaders in the state due to the chairman’s attitude towards the stakeholders.
Odo explained that Gov. Hope Uzodinma as the leader of the party in South East should ensure the unity of the party instead of using mediocrity to run the party.
He, therefore, said that the stakeholders in the state had decided to distance themselves from such a childish act. (NAN)