Ekweremadu divides Enugu APC over defection
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said this when Senator Lawan paid him a courtesy visit along with his deputy, Bala Ibn NaAllah, the Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye and Senator Francis Alimikhena. The APC national chairman, who said the issue had been a thorn on the flesh of the party because it inhibited the smooth running and working of the Senate, believed as a party of change, certain principles must be observed. He said, “We all regret that it took so long for us to arrive at the position we are today. What is The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is divided over increasing calls on the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, to defect to the party.
The state chapter of the party, yesterday, dismissed reports in a section of the media that it was indisposed to welcoming Ekweremadu into its fold.
Instead, the Enugu APC said Ekweremadu would be warmly received in the event he indicates interest to join the party.
Daily Trust recalls that the state APC publicity secretary, Mrs. Kate Offor, on Sunday issued a controversial statement that
The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, says the party supremacy has been finally respected and its caucus in the upper chamber has been united, following the election of Senator Ahmed Lawan as Majority Leader.
the party would not admit Ekweremadu.
Briefing journalists at the party’s secretariat in Enugu, at the end of its leaders and stakeholders’ meeting, yesterday, state chairman of the party, Dr. Ben Nwoye, said the party never discouraged Ekweremadu from decamping.
Sequel to a recent realignment in the Senate, Ekweremadu, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been under mounting pressure to join the ruling APC.
“Nobody should be barred from registering; the party is for all and sundry and lovers of true democracy,” the APC state chairman said.
But in what seems like a discordant tone, one of the chieftains of the party, Mr Osita Okechukwu, said there should be no blanket offer for defectors.
“Whereas I agree with Chief Ben Nwoye that we open our doors to everybody, as a democrat, I do subscribe to the earlier statement of the chapter of our great party that Distinguished Senator Ike Ekweremadu should remain in the PDP to clear the mess there,” he said.
According to him, “My brother, to be honest, I am happy of the surge of eminent Igbo sons and daughters into our great party. But, we cannot open our party door too wide because we want new members, we must sieve the wheat from the chaff,” he said.