It said rather than support the party, the members are pulling it down.
The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday, alleged that more than 200 members of the party from the state currently holding various political appointments at the federal level are not supporting the party.
It said rather than support the party, the members are pulling it down.
The state secretary of the party, Hon. Robert Ngwu, who made the allegations while addressing journalists at the party's office in Enugu, maintained that indigenes of the state hold ministerial, board chairmanship and membership positions and are heads of government agencies, yet the party has never done well in the state during elections.
Ngwu said rather such federal appointees work with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to undermine the APC and its candidates during elections.
The APC state secretary cited the example of the recent endorsement of the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state, Barr. Peter Mbah, by a chieftain of the APC, Mr. Joe Mmamel.
While dismissing the endorsement as a non-issue, Ngwu stated that Mmamel, who is currently a member of the National Human Rights Commission, an appointment given to him as a member of the APC, only joined the party to serve his pecuniary interests as he has no political value to add to the party or the PDP candidate he endorsed.
He said that Mmamel, like a few others of his ilk, who masquerade as APC chieftains, is a “political merchant” who joined the party to trade and scramble for federal appointments as they remain “PDAPC”.
Ngwu described Mmamel as a former tourism commissioner under the PDP government before he joined the APC and that alongside other “APC political merchants like him”, they have been working for both the PDP governorship candidate as well as the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, while pretending to be APC chieftains.
Ngwu said, “We have more than 200 persons from Enugu state with federal appointments under the APC but they don’t contribute a dime to the growth and development of the party in the state, neither do they support the party at the ward level. This is the reason APC has never achieved more than four percent of votes in Enugu state in the previous elections.
“As a matter of fact, if you check the 2019 general election results, you will find that all the so-called APC chieftains, including Mmamel lost their polling booths during the elections.
“They are in APC because of federal appointments, but working for PDP and Atiku while pretending to be working for APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But these are people who cannot deliver their polling units.
“This is why some of them whose antics are well known to the party, were sidelined so that they will not distract the party in her efforts to win Enugu state in 2023. The truth is that Enugu people are tired of PDP and the way the party has underdeveloped the state, especially in insecurity and lack of infrastructure. And they are looking at APC as an alternative platform due to our credible candidates.
“This is exactly the trajectory the current leadership of the party under our guber candidate, Chief Uche Nnaji and the state Chairman, Hon. Ugochukwu Agballah is trying to change and the same political merchants are fighting them, running from pillar to post all in a bid to grab the party’s presidential campaign money.
“So the party is not threatened one bit by Mmamel’s tantrums. In fact, we are not surprised at all. What perhaps may surprise some people is the fact that he is removing the veil to dance naked in the market square. Otherwise, we already know some of them working for the PDP, even as members of PDP campaign council in the state.”
A video making the rounds in the state shows Mmamel, in the company of PDP members from Ezeagu local government areas of the state, under the aegis of Ezeagu Igbudu Movement announcing the endorsement of PDP’s Peter Mbah as their governorship choice.
Mmamel can also be heard saying that he still remains a member of the PDP in Enugu but that of the APC in Abuja.