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Member Representing Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/ Obowo, Federal Constituency of Imo State, Rep. Chike Okafor, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the crisis rocking the ruling, All Progressives Congress (APC).
Okafor in a statement entitled, ‘APC Crisis: Where Are The Leaders Of Our Party?’, stressed the importance of the President intervening , as the party may not survive the different actions taken by members of the National Working Committee of recent.
Recall that on Tuesday the Court of Appeal upheld the suspension of APC former national chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole as a member of the party. In a unanimous judgment of a three-man panel led by Justice Eunice Onyemanam, the Court of Appeal affirmed the earlier March 4, 2020 order of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja, suspending Oshiomhole and barring him from continuing to parade himself as the national chairman of the party.
Following Oshimhole’s suspension, Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Victor Giadom, declared himself acting national chairman of the party. Giadom also called for a fresh screening of APC governorship aspirants for the Edo State governorship election.
His actions were swiftly rejected by the National Working Committee, which announced its Deputy National Chairman (South), Senator Abiola Ajimobi, as its acting National Chairman. This announcement again saw Deputy National chairman, Mr. Hillard Eta announcing himself as acting on behalf of Ajimobi who is believed to be treating COVID-19 in a Lagos hospital.
Okafor described happenings in the ruling party in the last 48 hours as highly worrisome, pointing to the need for presidential intervention. He also called on other leaders of the party such as Vice –President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Dr. Ahmed Lawan, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and members of the Federal Executive Council to step in to save the party.
The former chairman House Committee on Healthcare Services blamed the crisis rocking the ruling party on the personal interests of some leaders of the party ahead of 2023 polls.
The statement read in part: “In the last few days our great party has become the talking point and of course the byword for all that is wrong in party politics. Whether rightly or wrongly, the incontrovertible truth is that our party is slipping.
“From the President, the Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker, the Deputy Senate President, the Deputy Speaker, and indeed all members of the 9th National Assembly and the Governors under our party ,APC from across the six geopolitical zones, ministers, the members of the National Executive Council (NEC), NWC and all the ruling organs of our party and indeed to every other category of leader in our great party, it’s time to take charge as leaders. It’s time to take action”.
According to the lawmaker, failure to solve the problems currently confronting the party may lead to failure in 2023.
“True enough, interests can come in conflict and ambitions can cross paths, yet we all have a meeting point and which is – our party platform. We cannot afford to ruin that platform in pursuit of such interests and ambitions.
“So for one moment, let us all shelf our ambitions for 2023 and our hidden interests in the ongoing political scuffle in our party and save our party first. If with this internal wrangling, we imperil our party, we would have unwittingly imperiled our ambitions for 2023 and the fortunes of our great party, in the process”, he stated.
“Without this great party, most of these ambitions will be in great jeopardy come 2023. So let us all rise to the occasion and pull back our party from the brink. The sacrifice needed for this recovery could be tough, it could also be rough, but it would be worth the fight. Us standing by and waiting for the crisis to swing in our favour would be self-defeating and a guarantee that the crisis will definitely spiral out of control”, he further stated.
