Suspended APGA chair, Chief Victor Umeh

By Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia

A new leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) emerged Wednesday with Chris Ejike Uche selected as the National Chairman following a court order which suspended Chief Victor Umeh.

Uche, who is the Deputy National Chairman, South, announced his leadership at a press conference in Umuahia, saying that his action was “pursuant to article 12(26) of the APGA constitution, which empowers the national deputy chairman, South, to act in place of the National Chairman.”

He has swiftly commenced the exercise of his new powers and announced the lifting of the suspension, recall and granting of waiver to all the  members of the 2011 convention suspended by Umeh.

Umeh was on Monday restrained from exercising his functions as APGA national chairman, following an interim ex-parte order issued by an Abia State High Court.

The order was based on a suit filed by five members of the party challenging Umeh’s continued stay in office as national chairman when his eight-year tenure of two terms had expired on December 1, 2014.

“We have assumed leadership of the party in compliance with the court decision,” the new  interim chairman said, adding that “Umeh is joking with the affairs of the party.”

Flanked by the Deputy National Chairman, North, Sadeeq Ibrahim Masalla and the Deputy Welfare Secretary, Hon Ezekiel Adekunle Shonubi, the acting chairman said a substantive national chairman would emerge at a national convention slated for February 2015.

Recalling the cycle of crisis that APGA has been going through over the years, Uche said Umeh’ s leadership style was blamed as the root cause.

“He (Umeh) has caused a lot of bleeding for the party because of his highhandedness,  and arbitrariness,” he said, citing the appointment  of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu without consulting the National Working Committee (NWC).
The new chairman also dropped a bombshell for the former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Dr. Alex Otti, who on Monday emerged governorship candidate in a parallel primary held in Umuahia.

Uche categorically stated that the only APGA candidate for Abia is Chief Reagan Ufomba, who emerged in a primary supervised by the national leadership of APGA, adding that Otti is not and had never been a member of  APGA.”

He said this time around, APGA would not welcome anybody who would come like the Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, who used APGA’s platform to win election and dumped the party thereafter.


Source: ThisDay