The group led by the Pioneer party’s Secretary in the state, Chief Chaka Nweze, also includes the Immediate Past Chairman of the party in the state and current Commissioner for Market and Parks Development, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu, another former party state chairman, Hon Ben Nwobashi and a stalwart, Mazi Ogbonnia Onu.
The group in the petition addressed and submitted to the Chairman, National Caretaker Committee of the party, national headquarters Abuja, Alhaji Mai Bunu said that it was disheartening that Uwa and his sponsors will deceive the public with such a petition against the governor.
“Our petition has been duly received and acknowledged by the party’s national leadership and we made it known that as founding members of the party in the state, we would not fold hands and allow Uwa and his cohorts to deceive the public.
“Uwa and his group had their disillusioned, selfish hope of reaping from the governor’s defection dashed as the governor brought fantastic stability to the party, giving all strata of the party fairness and just accommodation.
“When it became obvious that the governor brought his magic wand and stuck to fairness and equity to both old and new members, the likes of Uwa knew that their nefarious past had found them out.
“Realising that they had lost out, they now resorted to calling the governor names with frivolous allegations such as not carrying the old APC members along,”.
The group reiterated their points by outlining all the critical stakeholders of the party in the state and pointing that all of them were in full support of the governor.
“Who can point to any critical old APC member in the state that is not with the governor and we would tell when such person joined the party.
“The last federal board appointments allotted to party members in the state have the old APC members with about 65 percent which is a very fair deal in an intricate venture like politics.
“Senator Julius Ucha was the convener of one of legacy parties that formed APC, later became the pioneer gubernatorial candidate of the party in the state and is presently with the governor”.
The group also outlined that Senator Anthony Agbo, a senator and former gubernatorial candidate was actively involved in the formative stages of the party in the state and is with the governor while Hon, Peter Edeh, a former member of the Federal House of Representatives who massively empowered his constituents, is with the governor.
“The concerned APC founding members such as its Coordinator, Chaka Nweze, Eze Nwachukwu, Ben Nwaobashi, Ogbonnia Onu, are with the governor while Nweze as pioneer state secretary ensured the successful conduct of the party’s first registration exercise, Nwachukwu and Nwaobashi anchored the ship of leadership effectively.
“The immediate past former governor of the state and Umahi’s boss Chief Martin Elechi has been present in all APC meetings despite his tight schedules, Former gubernatorial candidate and Chief Executive Officer of Barcelona hotels Abuja, Chief Edward Nkwegu, Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission (RMFAC) Chief Elias Mbam, attend meetings convened by the governor and solidly support him.
“A present member of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon Chinedu Ogah is with the governor and continually delivers dividends of democracy to his constituency, former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Christopher Omo-Isu among others too numerous to mention are with the governor,” he said.
The group noted that Uwa had gained tremendously from the Umahi’s administration so his tirades against the governor should be seen as mischief and ingratitude at its highest level.
“The world should know that it was through the governor’s benevolence that Uwa’s wife is serving as consultant to the state government and he also nominated his elder brother, Paul to serve as the governor’s special adviser.
“Uwa also nominated one Monday Eze as the governor’s special adviser from the governor’s first tenure till three months ago when Uwa asked him to resign and join Obinna Ogba in his visionless PDP gubernatorial project where Uwa is currently working.
The group urged the national leadership to ignore Uwa’s petition but heavily sanction him for sowing discord in the party as the governor had stabilized the party and given equal recognition and accommodation to all members whether old or new.
“Since the governor joined the party, he has convened several stakeholders meetings in which Uwa and his cohorts attended and never raised any issue relating to such filed in his petition.
