Acting Chairman says Oyegun ratified Nwaobasi’s suspension

Mr

Nwachukwu who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abakaliki , said that the suspension took place during an executive committee meeting presided over by Nwaobasi.

He said that the suspension followed due process and was ratified by over two-thirds of the members of the state executive council.

He said that the suspension was referred to the zonal leadership of the APC, in line with the party’s constitution.

Nwachukwu said that the national leadership of APC ratified the suspension after it received and studied the report of the Sen. Ifeanyi Ararume committee.

“Nwaobasi was suspended on May 4, 2015 following his anti-party activities, embezzlement, incompetence and gross misconduct, which led to the dismal performance of APC in the April 2015 general elections in Ebonyi .

“Apart from the suspension of Nwaobasi from the executive committee, no other member of the executive committee was dropped, nor any non-elected member included on the committee,’’ he said.

He said that APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the Secretary, Mai-Mala Buni, were not in contempt of any court order by dealing with the Ebonyi APC state executive.

He was reacting to a publication that alleged that the two national officers were in contempt of a court order issued by Justice Alloy Nwigwe of an Abakaliki High Court.

“The executive remains intact under my leadership as the acting chairman, and we are wondering where the story of disobedience to court order by the party’s national chairman and secretary is coming from.

“Let me put the record straight, the Ebonyi APC state executive committee has not been dissolved nor the entire executive suspended, it was only the erring chairman that was suspended from the executive.

“The masterminds of the said publication are sponsored agents bent on rupturing the existing peace in the Ebonyi APC, and we are going to tackle them through legal means,” Nwachukwu added.

He stressed that since Nwaobasi was suspended, the party did not organise any congress to elect state executive council members.

He explained that the party and its state and national leadership were committed to the rule of law and had been respecting the subsisting court order issued on Nov. 6, 2014 by Nwigwe, restraining the party from electing officers.

Nwachukwu said that APC as a party was established on the principle of rule of law and has great respect for the court.

Meanwhile, Nwaobasi in his reaction insisted that he remained the authentic chairman of the APC in Ebonyi, stressing that his purported suspension was illegal, null and void.

“I am the authentic chairman of the APC in Ebonyi, my purported suspension is illegal, null and void and of no material effect.

“I have been discharging my duties as the state chairman of APC and I challenge any person claiming otherwise to present genuine document from the national leadership endorsing my alleged suspension, ” Nwaobasi said.