Buhari Fails to Reconcile Ebonyi APC Crisis in Close Door Meeting with Stakeholders

Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki

Two warring factions of the Ebonyi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress last Monday met with President Muhammadu Buhari in a closed-door meeting as the embattled state Chairman, Ben Nwobasi, insisted against the claims of the factional Chairman, Eze Nwachukwu, that the crisis has not been resolved.

The meeting which was held at Presidential lodge in the state Government House, Abakaliki, was attended by the two factional chairmen and other leaders of both camps.

THISDAY learnt that since the party concluded its state congresses in 2014, the state Chairman, Nwobasi, and his erstwhile deputy, Nwachukwu, has been locked in a running leadership battle of the party in the state.

Nwachukwu had claimed that the crisis has been resolved but Nwobasi disputes that, claiming there was still a subsisting court injunction restraining the party from tampering with his election as the state chairman.

A source in the meeting said the president charged all members of the party to come and work together so as to win elections in the state in 2019.

The source also disclosed that majors issues were raises on the alleged clampdown on the members of the party by the state government, including the revocation of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the private school belonging to the former Commissioner for Education, Ndubuisi Agbo.

Also discussed was the proposed $130 million loan from the Islamic Bank being sought by the state government but the president advised them to work together with the state government for the development of the state.

Briefing journalists after the closed door meeting, the state embattled Nwobasi noted that the president advised them to come together and work as a team to win elections in 2019.

Nwobasi said: “The president addressed us and advised us as a father to come together and work as a team,
and so we thanked God for that.”

Though, he noted that the factional crisis has not been resolved, the embattled chairman added that he still remained the authentic elected state chairman of the party.
Meanwhile, the factional chairman, Eze Nwachukwu insisted that with the crisis has been resolved but lamented the alleged pains and afflictions from the state government on the APC family in the state

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