….Urge the Minister to uphold decorum, as one of it’s leaders in Anambra state
By Favour Goodness
Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Anambra State Chapter, have cautioned Ngige Nwachukwu, media aide to embattled former leader of the party, Sen. Chris Ngige, to desist from spreading deliberate falsehood, but rather concentrate on the task of profering quality advise to the Honourable Minister.
Speaking against the backdrop of series of Facebook posts wherein he trolled certain individuals whom he claimed Sen. Ngige had assisted in the past, as been responsible for the Minister’s current political woes in the APC, the stakeholders remarked that it is only a lazy workman that quarrels with his tools.
Speaking in almost one voice, the stakeholders observed that typical of the Minister, he has resorted to a deliberate avoidance of pertinent issues plaguing the growth of the Party in the state; instead, enacting dramatic occurrences and scenes in other to digress from the issue of his widespread removal as leader of the party in the state.
Said one of the stakeholders:”Last week, the APC in Anambra state scheduled a State Caucus meeting at the office of Sen. Andy Uba. But eager to flex muscles, Ngige also convened same Caucus meeting at his Asokoro, Abuja residence and at the same day and time as that of Senator Uba. It flopped.
“Stakeholders rather attended the meeting called by Uba, whereupon about 90 percent of constitutionally recognized state caucus members affirmed Uba as the Anambra state leader of the APC.
”The Ngige event was left desolate, requiring him to hire non members to fill the vacant seats. Irked by the outcome of the event, Ngige has instructed his cousin and media assistant, Ngige Nwachukwu, to attack those he feels are his imaginary enemies.”
Reacting, Hon. Ebele Obi, a former member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, who was one of the four persons named in the incendiary post, stated that contrary to Ngige’s phantom claims, he funded his own campaigns and subsequent court cases when he ran for elections in 2011, cautioning the Ngiges to always seek to relay events as they are.
Replying to Ngige’s post on Facebook through a series of comments, Hon. Obi accused Sen. Chris Ngige of extorting N500,000 before he was handed over the party ticket for the House of Assembly election in 2011 and yet was abandoned by him on the day of the election.
In spite of this, he said, he remained loyal to Sen. Ngige, rejecting entreaties and inducement to abandon the APC to join the rival All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
He further stated that the only reason Ngige is after him is his disagreement, on principle, with the various ill-treatment meted out to Sharon Ikeazor, the Minster of Environment, especially when she wanted to stand for senatorial bye-election.
Also reacting, Basil Ejidike, Caretaker Chairman of the APC in Anambra state, refuted the charge that it was Sen. Ngige that brought him from obscurity, noting that he had already made a positive name for himself in politics, long before Ngige resigned as a Deputy Director in the Civil service to join politics in 1997.
Ejidike:”I was a lecturer at the Sokoto College of Arts in the mid 80’s before I was appointed Deputy Chairman of old Onitsha( Onitsha North, Onitsha South and Ogbaru) in 1990 by the then Military Governor of Anambra state. By 1994, I was a Supervisory Councillor in Onitsha.
In 1997, I had campaigned and won the Chairmanship position of the Congress for National Consensus, CNC and by1998, I went ahead to contest and win a seat to represent Onitsha North and South in the House of Representatives. We were waiting for inauguration when Abacha suddenly died, thus halting our inauguration.
“In the year 2000, I was one of the commissioners, under the Anambra State Education Commission under the administration of then Gov. Chinwoke Mbadinuju.
When Mbadinuju moved to the Alliance for Democracy, AD in the run up to the 2003 Anambra Gubernatorial Election, I was offered the Onitsha South Chairmanship position, so as to move with him. I refused, preferring to support Ngige instead.
When Ngige came to campaign at Onitsha South in 2003, it was in my office at Zik’s Road, Fegge that he was hosted. I offered one ram to him and another to Chris Uba. I also took care of the logistics of everyone who came for that rally, alongside other stakeholders.
We told Ngige not to worry about it. To now say Ngige brought me from obscurity is a feeble attempt at fairytales,” the APC chairman said.
Commenting on Ngige Nwachukwu, Ejidike said:
”That boy writing this fairytale used to be a freelance journalist at Onitsha. He started his day in my house and ended in my office. He was following me to my campaigns and reporting events from my campaign. He has benefitted from my generosity. I wonder why he is now been sponsored to write falsehood. I guess it’s the influence of blood ties.”
Also commenting, another stakeholder who doesn’t want his name in print, stated that Ngige should be ashamed if the only thing he can claim to have done for Uche Momaife (Uduakomili), after almost 20 years of being loyal to him is to make him a Youth Leader and a member of a redundant Federal Board.
The stakeholder further added that no one in Anambra has any issue with Sen. Ngige, besides the fact that every party member in Anambra is desirous of the party winning elections – a legitimate craving which Ngige has not been able to assuage with even a Councillorship position.
“The APC in Anambra state is the only one that hasn’t won any elections in Nigeria since formation. This is not good for the party and for the aspirations of many of its members. Ngige has refused to provide leadership. In 2017, he abandoned the party despite a free and fair primaries been held. In 2021, he repeated the same thing. This has become a pattern. What you see in Anambra APC is an internal revolt of those members who hold Ngige responsibe for the party’s inability to win elections.”
When contacted, Sir Paul Chukwuma, immediate past National Auditor of the APC refused to make any comment, stating that he wouldn’t join issues with the Ngiges.
