By David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
The All Progressives Congress(APC) in Anambra State has set up a committee to investigate the reason for the abysmal performance of its presidential candidate in the state in the just concluded election, President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party said it is confident of its popularity in the state, and was surprised that its candidate lost the election in the state, and as such would investigate the reasons behind it with a view to moving the party forward in subsequent elections and punishing those found culpable.
The Acting state chairman of the party, Basil Ejidike, who addressed state executive members of the party during a meeting held in Awka to inaugurate the committee, said the committee will investigate the role of every stakeholder in the state during the election.
He said: “Political parties are formed for the sole purpose of winning elections, and if we cannot win election, then we are not in business.
“That is the reason we set up this fact-finding committee that will deeply probe into what happened before and during the last general election, which saw our party (APC) lying prostate and without anything to show for its existence and participation in the election.”
President Buhari had scored about 33,000 votes in the last presidential election in the state, while his opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, scored over 500,000 votes.
Though Ejidike insisted that the score in Anambra was a big leap, considering its score in the state in 2015, but he insisted that it is determined to investigate the role of its stakeholders, candidates and members in the election to ascertain the reason for its abysmal performance with a view to performing better.
The acting chairman, while handing out to the committee its term of reference, said its job also includes highlighting areas of strength of the party in the state with a view to maximizing it in future elections.
According to him, “Nothing should be left untouched in our collective quest to unravel what actually went wrong, and to see what can be done to redirect and re-strengthen the party on a sustainable path of growth and development.
“The committee also has the powers to recommend sanctions where necessary.”
He added that the committee has two weeks to submit its report as it would form a working document for a summit of the party in the state, which would hold at the end of April.
The leader of the party in the state, Dr Chris Ngige, had threatened to go to court during the declaration of the presidential result in Anambra, alleging that the result did not represent the popularity of the party in the state.
The 13-member committee has Mr C. J. Chinwuba as Chairman, Kingsley Ibe as Vice-Chairman and Dr Peter Ogbuka as Secretary.
