The last is yet to be heard on the crisis rocking Dr. Uche Ogah’s inordinate ambition to emerge as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State for the 2023 election. As if to validate the general opinion across the state that the Ogah-backed faction of the APC lacks authenticity, his hand-picked Chairman, Hon. Acho Obioma has dumped his group and defected to the Labour Party.
To paper the cracks, the group rallied and replaced Hon. Obioma with Chief Goldie Nwagbara in acting capacity during an emergency meeting at the party’s state secretariat, along Azikiwe Road, Umuahia.
The factional Secretary of the party, Mr. Perfect Okorie, who moved the motion for the replacement of the decamped former Chairman, said the action was necessary to ensure smooth running of the affairs of the party.
The motion seconded by the Vice Chairman of APC, Abia South, Orji Chimezie.
In his acceptance speech, the Acting Chairman thanked the state working committee (SWC) members for reposing confidence in him, and promised not to disappoint the party. He also promised to carry all the necessary stakeholders along, and to lead the party to victory in the 2023 election.
To douse the tension within his group, and also encourage them as many are said to have lost confidence due to the illegitimate manner in which the faction produced Ogah as candidate, the acting Chairman appealed to the national leadership of APC to handle the Abia case with caution to avoid any action that could diminish the fortunes of the party ahead of the 2023 elections.
It could be recalled that Ogah who failed in his efforts to win the party’s ticket at last week’s APC governorship primary in Abia State resorted to organizing his own faction’s primary where he was declared winner. Eye witnesses at the event said that neither officials of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) nor those from the national secretariat of the APC were involved, as both groups had already concluded the primaries where Chief Ikechi Emenike was declared winner.
Moreso, the factional Chairman of the group equally shunned the primary organized by Ogah, lending credence that it lacked authenticity.
In recent times, the APC in Abia State has been engrossed in supremacy battle but the National leadership of the party under its former Caretaker Committee Chairman, Governor Mala Buni, recognised the Dr. Kingsley Ononogbu-led APC as the authentic APC in the state. Interestingly, it was the Ononogbu-led APC that organised last week’s governorship primary where Emenike floored Ogah and five other aspirants to emerge as the authentic candidate of the APC in Abia State for the 2023 polls.