From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia
The crisis of leadership rocking the Abia State chapter of All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), has taken a new twist as the party now has two chairmen: Rev. Augustine Ehiemere and Barrister Prince Nnanna Ukaegbu.
Ukaegbu assumed the position of the chairman of the party last Monday.
Ukaegbu purportedly, with heavily armed security personnel, stormed the State secretariat of the party in Umuahia, saying he has come to take over the secretariat as the state chairman of the party.
Ukaegbu said his action was predicated on the injunction by an Umuahia High Court which was upheld by the Appeal Court, Owerri Division, lately.
Ukaegbu who had gone to court to challenge his removal by the APGA National Chairman in 2014, got an injunction from an Abia State High court which ordered the Abia APGA not to do anything in the party without him as the chairman.
Ehiemere and his leadership which emerged since 2015 and has remained in office till date, according reports, did not vacate the order, claiming that it has been overtaken by events, since they claimed that Ukaegbu’s tenure ended in 2014.
However, the Ehiemere leadership went to the Appeal Court few months ago but their case was struck out. Armed with the judgement, Ukaegbu stormed the APGA State secretariat last Monday.
With the latest development, Rev. Ehiemere has appealed to members and supporters of the party to remain calm.
Ehiemere dismissed Ukaegbu as an impostor who forcefully broke into the state secretariat, but added that as law-abiding party, the leadership of APGA had already notified law enforcement agencies of the invasion of the party’s secretariat by Ukaegbu and his sponsors.
Ehiemere said that Ukaegbu’s tenure as party Chairman expired since 2014, adding that he had since then stopped identifying with APGA but has been hobnobbing with some anti-democratic forces holding the state down.
“Everybody knows he is an impostor and he illegally broke into our office which is a criminal offence. Nnanna Ukaegbu should know that he is an expired Chairman whose tenure ended since 2014,” he said.
Ehiemere who insisted that the leadership of APGA is united under his watch urged members of the public to disregard Ukaegbu and his co-travellers.
” I want our party members and supporters as well as members of the public to remain calm. The law will take its course and our detractors and their sponsors will be put to shame.
”All Abians and APGA supporters should be calm and not be distracted by this political trader and his sponsors.” Ehiemere said.
He alleged that those who feel intimidated by the growing popularity and swelling support for APGA and its candidates in the 2023 elections are the masterminds of the current distraction to possibly destabilize the party.
He called on Abians to sustain their support for APGA as well as prayers for the state, saying that democracy was under attack but has to be defended by the people.