The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje has threatened to drag the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) to court for recognising a faction of the party ahead of the September 21 council polls in the state.
He frowned at the failure of ENSIEC to recognise the Ugochukwu Agballah-led faction of the party describing the Alphonsus Nwafor-led faction as “faceless.”
The Enugu State chapter of the APC has been embroiled in a leadership crisis. This followed the announcement of the Nwafor faction’s suspension of Agballa and his executive members.
The Nwafor-led faction subsequently obtained a court injunction restraining Agballah from parading as Chairman of the APC in Enugu State.
As a result, ENSIEC has continued to deal with the Nwafor-led faction ahead of the LG election.
Ganduje expressed misgivings in the letter to the state electoral commission accusing it of undermining the APC in Enugu state.
In a letter dated August 26, 2024, which he signed and addressed to Prof. Christian C. Ngwu, Chairman of ENSIEC, Ganduje said, “Our attention has been drawn to your Commission’s meddling with, and undue reference with the Management, Control and Administration of the All Progressives Congress as a political party especially in Enugu State by Commission’s recognition and acceptance of a group of faceless persons who are unknown to the party as the authorised officers of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State in violation of the Constitution of APC and the extant laws in Nigeria…
“Your Commission has on its own accord chosen to engage with this group of faceless people who were neither elected officers of the party nor accredited representatives of the party for the conduct of the October 5th 2024 Local Government Elections in Enugu State.”
He further said in the letter, “We state that the actions of your Commission violate the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 under which the All Progressives Congress was lawfully registered.
“Kindly be informed that the Hon Ugochukwu H. Agballah is the duly elected and recognized State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State and is the only officer authorised by our party to submit names for the Chairmanship and Councillorship election that would be conducted by your electoral commission.”
The APC Chairman reminded ENSIEC that APC as a political party was not a party to any valid lawsuit before a Court of competent jurisdiction in Enugu Enugu State or under any restrictive order of any kind whatsoever.
He warned, “Take notice that if your Commission fails, neglects and refuses to desist from further undue interference with the Control, Management and Administration of All Progressives Congress (especially in Enugu State), as it relates to, connected with and arising from the forthcoming Local Government Election in Enugu State, the party will be left with no other option than to instruct our lawyers to seek redress before a Court of Law without further recourse to your Commission.”