Nsukka, Enugu.
As part of the ongoing commitment to peace and reconciliation of its factions, the members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nsukka zone of Enugu state, have held a unity meeting on the 31st of September at the behest of its political leader and former gubernatorial aspirant, George Tabugbo Ogara (GOT) in Nsukka. The reconciliation moves were earlier initiated by the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Kwusike Onyeama at a well-attended town-hall meeting of all factions of the party in the state previously on Friday the 26th of September at De Dome Centre Enugu.
It will be recalled that the party had been polarized since a botched congress in 2018 where two factional state chairmen had emerged in the persons of Deacon Okey Ogbodo and Dr. Ben Nwoye. The rift between these personalities had subsequently trickled down to the wards and had prevented the party from making any significant progress in the political arena of Enugu state since then.
In the Nsukka zonal meeting convened by the leader of the Kwusike Political Family in the zone, Honorable Chinedu Okosisi, the members of the party were admonished to be peaceful in all their conduct and abandon the lingering feud that had existed in the party so as to realize the objectives of the party in the state. He particularly praised the roles played by the Honorable Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama as state leader of the party, for the reconciliation achieved and promised to continue to play his own role in ensuring that the peace message is spread throughout the zone.
Echoing his words, the secretary of the party in the zone, Barrister Chike Omeje, also used the event to shower praises on GOT for his support of the APC in the zone in particular and Enugu State in general. He recalled the several instances where GOT had extended financial and moral support for the growth of the party since 2015 and promised to work with him to retain the new found peace in the party in Enugu State.
Several members of the party from various local governments that makes up Nsukka zone were on ground for the meeting that was attended by the two factions of the party. In their various submissions, the grassroots leaders of the party expressed their happiness at the outcome of the peace and reconciliation moves of the party hierarchy, and promised to take the message to their various polling units and wards and also straighten their ranks in preparation for the tasks ahead.
In his response, George Ogara expressed his sincere gratitude to members of the party from Nsukka zone, describing them as the ‘glue that holds us together in Enugu State’. He traced the efforts and sacrifices of the zone in the party to the formative years of APC, describing them as dogged and very reliable and committed party members. His words: “There has never been anytime in the history of APC in Enugu state where divisions and disloyalty has been attributed to party members from Nsukka zone. They have exhibited utmost loyalty even in the realization that favours from the party to their rank and file, has been slow and not as pronounced as other zones in the state”.
He explained that political appointments alone should not be the sole ambition of the party, rather they should focus attention to growing their membership and winning elections.
Describing the destabilizing antics of some party members under the influence of the PDP as part of the reason the party has failed to win elections in the past, GOT encouraged the members in the zone to take up the fight of sensitizing the public about the values and objectives of the party thereby growing membership base in preparation for electoral victories in future. He reiterated the exhortation of the honorable minister that the party with its new found peace, must empower their polling units and wards to be very viable, describing that as the cardinal strength of APC as a party.
“Our strength as a party lies in the grassroots because they are supposed to have the greater number, influence and power in our party hierarchy”, he said. He explained that the article 10 of the party constitution clearly showed that the polling unit, ward and local government structures of the party are the first three most important levels of the party. GOT further stated that if the party in the state had strictly adhered to this part of the party’s constitution, there would not have been much attention attached to the state leadership that led to the crisis that engulfed the party in the past.
In his submission at the event, the Head of Communication and Strategy of the GOT Campaign Organization, Ejiofor Agada explained that the organization is not just for electioneering purposes for George Ogara, but a political advocacy body that exemplifies the political ideology of Barrister George Ogara and other progressive minded professionals in politics in the state. To that extent, Mr. Agada promised that the campaign organization, in its objective of spreading the progressive message of the party and creating awareness on the value proposition of the party in the state, will support all efforts for the growth of the party at the ward level financially and morally.
The meeting was concluded on the note that similar town-hall meetings as organized by the Honorable Minister in Enugu last week, will now be a regular feature in Nsukka zone with its leader, George Ogara in attendance.