Imo Local Council Polls: No Rift Within The Ranks Of APC – Spokesman

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Ahead of the September 21,2024 scheduled Local Council Polls, the Imo State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC, has insisted that its ranks are intact and cohesive.

This is just as the party maintained that there is no iota of crisis, post Local Government Primaries of the Party.

The Source reports the strong   insinuations making the rounds that the consensus option adopted in selecting the party’s candidates for the Election has  created disaffection and polarized the party.

One of those reports published, by one Ekeh Chiemena, had claimed that some aggrieved aspirants who were allegedly schemed out of the Primaries, issued a 48-hour dateline for their expenditures to be refunded or they will embark on a protest.

But in a statement issued at the weekend by the Imo APC Publicity Secretary Cajetan Duke, the Party described the said report as false, and a mere fabrication designed to create unnecessary tension within the party.

” The article is in itself a classic example of lazy journalism, relying on unknown sources and unsubstantiated claims to peddle falsehood.

“The truth is that the APC in Imo state has not been enmeshed in any crisis over the outcome of the party Primaries. The Primaries were conducted in a peaceful, fair and credible manner through a consensus process as recognized by the party’s constitution and adopted by the relevant stakeholders of the party and the winners have been duly declared.

“The claim that Governor Hope Uzodinma and the Party’s Chairman, MacDonald Ebere, scammed aspirants by saying that the party will refund their money is a gross misrepresentation of facts .

“The issue of refund was a suggestion and opinion of the Governor aimed at placating those who respected the consensus arrangement of the party.  An opinion which is not a convention in the party democracy in Nigeria, but a gesture of goodwill, entirely advisory, subject to the consideration of the State Executive Committee of the party”, the statement noted.

The APC also debunked claims that strange and unknown persons were handed the Party’s tickets for the election, insisting that all the candidates are not only bonafide members ,but also passed through all the required processes, including the purchase of expression of interests and nomination forms.

The statement, while calling on party faithful and the public in general to disregard any distracting antics, expressed the optimism that the APC as a party is strong and united enough and ready for the election.