---Says Usulor can't collapse party he disengaged since 2023
The Ebonyi State chapter of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) has launched a blistering attack on its 2023 governorship candidate, Comrade Tony Usulor, accusing him of attempting to use the name and structure of the party to negotiate political relevance and patronage from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the state ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The party, in a strongly worded statement issued on Monday by its State Chairman, Hon. Ogodo Stanley, on behalf of the state executive officers, stakeholders and members, dismissed Usulor’s claim that he had collapsed the NRM structure in Ebonyi State into the APC as false, baseless and politically mischievous.
Ogodo declared that Usulor had abandoned the activities of the party since the 2023 general elections and consequently lacked the political or organisational mandate to speak for, restructure or claim ownership of the NRM in the state.
“You cannot collapse what you abandoned,” Ogodo said, insisting that Usulor’s status as the party’s former governorship candidate did not confer perpetual authority over its structures, membership or leadership.
According to him, Usulor had not participated in the party’s activities since 2023, while the NRM had continued to reorganise its structures, conduct membership updates and carry out internal elections in accordance with its established processes.
The chairman said the former candidate could not credibly claim to have collapsed a structure whose current leadership he allegedly could not identify.
"Since after the 2023 election, Usulor has not participated in our party activities. We have conducted elections and put in place our structures at the state, local government and ward levels. He does not know the current executive members at these levels,” Ogodo stated.
He described as “political fiction” any claim that Usulor had moved or collapsed the NRM structure into the APC, stressing that the NRM was an independent political organisation governed by its constitution and recognised leadership.
Ogodo further accused Usulor of attempting to deploy the name of NRM as a bargaining instrument in his political engagement with the APC-led government.
“We are concerned that somebody who abandoned the party since 2023 would suddenly emerge to claim that he has collapsed the entire NRM structure into the ruling APC. He should not use the name of NRM to negotiate for political favour or patronage ahead of the future elections,” he said.
The NRM chairman, however, acknowledged Usulor’s constitutional right to defect to another political party, but maintained that such a decision remained personal and could not be presented as the takeover or dissolution of NRM structures in Ebonyi state.
“If Tony Usulor has chosen to join the APC, that is his constitutional right. But defection is not acquisition, and personal supporters are not the same thing as the recognised structure of the NRM,” Ogodo said.
He stressed that the movement of individuals who voluntarily chose to follow Usulor into the APC could not legally or politically be equated with the collapse of the NRM in Ebonyi State.
The chairman challenged Usulor to identify the current NRM state executive, local government and ward executives if he genuinely possessed the authority he claimed.
“He should tell Nigerians the names of the current NRM state executive members, the local government chairmen and the ward executives. He cannot identify them because he has not been part of the party’s activities and structures since 2023,” Ogodo said.
He warned that the NRM would not allow its name, identity or organisational structure to be allegedly exploited by any individual for personal political negotiations.
“NRM is not anybody’s personal political estate. It belongs to its members and is governed by its constitution and recognised structures. Nobody can appropriate the party’s identity simply because he was once a candidate,” he said.
Ogodo urged the public, political parties, government officials and media organisations to disregard any claim suggesting that Usulor currently speaks for or controls the NRM in Ebonyi State.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the state leadership, stakeholders and members to strengthening the party’s structures and advancing its political interests in accordance with its constitutional provisions.
The NRM chairman urged Usulor to pursue his political ambitions under whatever platform he had chosen without dragging the identity and structures of the NRM into what he described as his personal political negotiations.
“Go wherever you choose to go, but do not use NRM to negotiate for yourself. You cannot collapse what you abandoned, and you cannot claim ownership of a structure you no longer belong to,” Ogodo declared.
