It is no longer news that there is crisis in All Progressives Congress (APC), Enugu State chapter. The crisis started as a result of the fallout of the party’s congress in May 2019 where two factions broke out with one faction led by Ben Nwonye and another led by Okey Ogbodo.
The national leadership in its part failed in resolving this dispute before the party’s primaries that was held on 4th October after it was postponed as fracas occurred between the two factions on earlier date 30th September fixed by the NEC of the party.
Before then, there had been disagreements between the two factions over the mode of the primary to be adopted. They ended up using indirect primaries for the 30th September election not until the NEC cancelled the process and rescheduled a fresh direct primaries on 4th October.
This process regrettably produced two ‘winners’. Barr George Ogara emerged on the same day as the winner of the gubernatorial contest but on the following day, 5th October, another winner was announced by the Ben Nwonye faction in the person of Senator Ayogu Eze. However, the national leadership has chosen to recognise Ayogu Eze’s candidacy and equally submitted his name to INEC for 2019 polls.
Since then, there have been trade of words between the Ben Nwonye faction and that of Okey Ogbodo. Court cases upon court cases, as aggrieved members resorted to court to seek justice. Mr. Ogbodo had gone to court to stop Ben Nwonye from parading himself as the party chairman in Enugu State in a court case No. FHC/EN/CS/117/2018: DEACON OKEY OGBODO Vs. ENGR BEN NWONYE & OTHERS. After several hearings, the court has fixed February 1st 2019 for judgement.
This day means a lot to both factions. The outcome of the judgement will determine the fate of Ayogu Eze as the rightful candidate of APC in Enugu. If the judgement happens to be in favour of Okey Ogbodo, then automatically Ayogu Eze is out of the game as every process that brought him would be declared null and void.
The embattled APC candidate is also facing another court case filed by Barr. George Ogara at the Federal High Court Abuja, refraining him from parading himself as the APC guber candidate of Enugu State. The case had been adjourned for hearing on 20th December and a possible date of judgement would be announced.
In the face of all these dramas, how Ayogu Eze would escape these court cases including the allegations of misappropriation of constituency fund being investigated by EFCC, is in the hands of Truth and Justice.
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