The immediate past chairman of the All Progressive Congress in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye yesterday said the recent expulsion of the state chairman, Ugo Agbalah by members of his ward executives has legal backing. Agbalah’s expulsion from the party was announced by Udi/Agbudu political ward in Udi local government area announced.
They barred him from holding party office, before pronouncing the expulsion.
The expulsion letter which was signed by the ward chairman, Mr. Aduma Ferdinand and secretary, Mr. Onyia Francis, disclosed that he was suspended for failing to appear before a disciplinary committee over some allegations leveled against him.
It was gathered that a member of the ward had written a petition against Agalla, accusing him of not being a registered member of the party at the ward.
Other allegations included running the party aground, a development they said may make it impossible for them to win the election in 2023 and not attending meetings of the party at the ward.
Agbalah has series of court cases challenging his alleged non-membership of the APC.
When contacted, Agballah dismissed his expulsion, noting that those behind it were fake ward executive members. He spoke through his media adviser, Comrade Kenneth Oforma, adding that the said ward executives were impersonators.
“The person whose signature is there as chairman is not the chairman of the ward. The chairman of the ward is Chinedu Ezeago,” he said. But Agbalah’s predecessor, Nwoye, insisted that the expulsion has the party’s constitutional backing and therefore stands.
Nwoye, who spoke to journalists in Enugu shortly after his arrival from Abuja, advised Agbalah to accept the expulsion and move on with his life.
He noted that the some former national chairmen of both the APC and the PDP were similarly sacked by members of the ward executives, adding that their attempts to resist the sack through legal means failed as the party’s constitution remains supreme and above any member of the party.‒
Nwoye expressed regrets over the massive defection of APC members to other parties since Agbalah took over the mantle of leadership.
Noting that stakeholders of the party have agreed that there was need to unite the party and move the party forward to win 2023 election, he further disclosed that stakeholders of the party were not happy over the way they were treated in a disrespective manner hence the need to move the party forward.
He therefore advised Agbalah to stop parading himself as the state chairman of the party to enable the party move forward and win election.
Nwoye said he was aware of plans to remove the names of the authentic ward executives that removed Agbalah and to replace them with imposters but warned that such a move will fail.
