By Leo Sobechi, Abuja
MEMBER of National Human Rights Commission (Ozo Mmamel) has said the problem in Enugu State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) is orchestrated by the state Chairman, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, to serve the interest of an unnamed political party.
Mmamel spoke to The Guardian against the backdrop of recent threat to suspend him from APC, following his endorsement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Peter Mbah.
However, Agballah said the party has decided to weed out all those whose membership are only known in Abuja, but without visible presence at their wards and state constituencies.
Dismissing the threat to activate disciplinary actions against him, Mmamel said it has become obvious that Agballah is out to damage APC’s structure and electoral fortunes.
He said: “Is any person suspending a key-player few weeks to a national election doing it in the best interest of the party or to satisfy his own self-purpose.”
“The question you should be asking me is whether or not I believe in Agballah as the state Chairman of APC. The answer is no. He cannot be a judge in his own case; he cannot set up a disciplinary committee against me, because I have not been on the same page with him.
“One question we kept asking Agballah when he announced his intention to contest the party’s chairmanship was whether he had joined the party. We do not recognise him. So, why will I answer his summons? It is just working into your enemy’s tent. I can’t give him that pleasure, what he is doing is a charade; the party needs me, I don’t need the party.”
Mmamel, who was Culture and Tourism Commissioner in the state, disclosed that virtually all-prominent stakeholders of APC in the state have publicly renounced Agballah’s chairmanship.
He said: “The immediate past governor of the state, Sullivan Chime, who hails from the same Udi/Agbudu ward, is not with him. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeamah, is not with him, even the Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, is not with him.
“These are APC chieftains from Agballah’s immediate constituency. So, these mischiefs constitute the bane of the problem in our party. I think that another party’s plan is to have a short cut to their politics by invading the APC in Enugu, and impose Agballah on them without their knowing. That is the hard fact on it.”
Source: The Guardian
