Ismaeel Aleem
A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has appealed to Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah not to allocate party positions to the faction led by Chief Ugo Agbala, whom he branded “political bandits”, during the ongoing reconstitution of ward and local government executives.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday, Okechukwu, a former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, acknowledged Governor Mbah as the de facto leader of the APC in Enugu following the governor’s reported influence over the party’s structure in the state.
He expressed alarm at reports that two of the four slots allotted to the APC in a proposed nine-member executive structure might be handed to Agbala’s group.
Okechukwu questioned the rationale for such a move, asking on what “valid ground or good conscience” the governor would reward a figure he accused of orchestrating a “political coup” that slashed the APC’s presidential vote in Enugu from over 56,000 in 2019 to a mere 4,722 in 2023 the lowest tally nationwide.
He blamed Agbala’s “imposition” and “hostile leadership style” for driving away members and crippling the party’s fortunes, warning that rewarding him now would only deepen internal divisions.
While urging Mbah to prioritise equity and fairness, Okechukwu suggested that if the governor held Agbala in high regard, he should allocate slots to him from the five positions reportedly reserved for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rather than diminishing the APC’s limited share.
