The Maxi Okwu-led faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has urged the federal government to reinstate the party’s delegates to the National Conference.
The government on March 13 dropped the nominees submitted by the Okwu leadership of the party pending the resolution of APGA’s protracted leadership crisis.
There has been a lingering leadership crisis between Victor Umeh and Okwu, with the two heading different factions of the party.
Adressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, Okwu noted that the federal government had temporarily suspended APGA delegates with the understanding that the two factions would resolve their disagreements.
He said that the party was initially given two slots at the conference, leading to the nomination of his faction’s deputy national chairman, South, Ejike Uche, and its national secretary, Sagir Maidoya, to represent APGA.
Okwu said further that Umeh became “angry that he lost the leadership of the party and the delegates he purportedly nominated to the conference which led to the suspension of APGA’s delegates.”
He said appropriate action is being taken to ensure that the “authentic” APGA delegates as submitted by his leadership and published by government participate in the conference, adding that the opportunity would enable the party members to contribute their quota to deepening the country’s democracy and national development.
“To us, this conference is in furtherance of President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda and renegotiation of our nationhood which will produce for the first time the people’s constitution. We are optimistic that government will reconsider its stand and allow our delegates to take their rightful place at the confab,” he said.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had upheld the Okwu-led faction of the party as the authentic one, while the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, recognises Umeh as chairman of the party.