Abia North Senatorial Seat: APC warns aggrieved members not to vote for PDP
…Says it is anti-party to give Mao your votes
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, has warned its aggrieved members from Abia North Senatorial district against casting protest votes for Senator Mao Ohunabunwa.
The Party leadership noted that such action would amount to anti-party and warned that it would “neither tolerate nor condone such anti-party behavior,” and dissociated the party from any arrangement or contemplation by APC members to adopt Mao.
Mao, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial Candidate for Abia North senatorial zone, is running against Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the APC Candidate for the same zone but it was reported that aggrieved APC members from Abia North have threatened to dump Kalu and switch their votes to Mao.
But they party leadership, in a statement endorsed by the State Organising Secretary, Hon. Obinna Atuonwu, has warned those involved against such move, saying that “two wrongs cannot make a right.”
The state reads in part: “The Abia APC leadership is also aware of media reports that a group of party members from Abia North zone had addressed a press conference in Umuahia and expressed their dissatisfaction and frustration with Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, whom they accused of ‘anti-party activities.’ It is within the rights of such members to call out any party member if they felt such a person is working at cross purposes with the party’s goal of rescuing and developing Abia(RADA). But in doing so, the group should not take any action that could boomerang and hurt our Party.
“To this end, the leadership of APC in Abia State, hereby, totally dissociates the Party from any decision or arrangement purported to have been made in order to adopt the Senatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for Abia North, Mao Ohuabunwa. There’s no reason whatsoever for our Party members in Abia North to give their votes to a candidate of the ruling party that has devastated God’s Own State over the past two decades.
“We therefore appeal to the people behind this extreme reaction over a perceived wrong by a highly placed party member to retrace their steps and rescind the decision to give votes to Mao Ohuabunwa.
“The Party leadership will neither tolerate nor condone such anti-party behaviour. As the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right.
For the avoidance of doubt, the State Party leadership is quite aware of the anti-party activities being perpetrated by some members. At the appropriate time the leadership of our Party will sanction those moles in accordance with laid down rules and regulations of APC.
“For now, let all family members of our high flying Party remain focused on the task before us and work assiduously to deliver all our candidates in the 2023 general election and ultimately take control of Abia State.”
While pleading with the Abia North electorate not to abandon Senator Kalu at the poll next year, the Abia APC leadership has vehemently condemned what it called “the misleading and ill-intentioned information pushed into the media space with the purpose of causing confusion in our Party.”
The leadership said a national daily last Thursday, published a story it entitled “Abia APC Reaffirms Loyalty to Kalu,” which it described as mischievous.
“We are aware that this mischievous headline emanated from a press statement issued by the State Publicity Secretary of our Party, Hon. Okey Ezeala, which was obviously doctored and twisted out of context to achieve a dubious political motive.
“The leadership of Abia APC is not in dispute and so the issue of reaffirming loyalty to anybody does not arise. Our Party in Abia has a well defined leadership structure with our Governorship Candidate, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, as Leader and, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu, as Chairman of Party. So, party members know how loyalty flows in the party,” the statement added.
