2019 elections: Serving ministers, party leaders made APC to lose South East – Orji Kalu

Former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Kalu has called for investigation into the alleged anti-party activities on some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South East before and during the 2019 general elections.

Kalu made the call on Saturday in Enugu during the zonal stakeholders’ meeting of the party, Newsmen reports.

The former governor said that he had it on good authority that some party chieftains in the zone sabotaged genuine efforts of the party by aligning with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He called on the leadership of the party in the zone to immediately raise a committee to investigate the allegations.

“One of the leaders of the party outside this zone told me that some of our chieftains including serving ministers negotiated with PDP governors to allow our party 25 per cent of vote cast at the polls.

“We have to fish out the people that said our party cannot afford 25 per cent vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and punish them.

“They sabotaged us. We cannot be working for the party and look like fools. Some of us worked but a few went to Abuja to say we cannot deliver,” he said.

Kalu said that such circumstance affected the performance of the party in the zone in the last election.

“There is no way the APC could not have won states like Abia and others but some of our leaders did this. We have to reveal and suspend them,” Kalu said.

Also speaking, Sen. Chris Adighije, said that though the forces against the APC during the poll in the zone was enormous but they made great achievements through hard work.

“The forces were against us in Abia State but we won seats in the National and State Assemblies. If some people negotiated for 25 per cent on behalf of the party, we have to fight back,” Adighije said.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu described the performance of the party in the zone during the polls as a `great improvement’ from the 2015 scenario.

Onu, who is the leader of the South East APC Caucus, said that the performance might have been below expectations.

The minister commended the leadership of the party in the zone for convening the meeting, adding, “if we can come together, we can surprise Nigerians as they believe we cannot work together.

“Let us unite so that those forces outside with the intention of dividing us will not succeed.

“I see a very bright future for Ndigbo if we can unite,” Onu said.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, the APC National Vice Chairman, South East, Mr Emma Eneukwu, described the just concluded polls as a difficult one for the party in the zone.

Eneukwu said that their opponents tried to incapacitate them “but we came out victorious.

“We are proud of our members that won various elective positions and it would have been a shame if they could not win,” he said.

The vice chairman said that some leaders of the party outside of the zone were fighting to infiltrate and cause division and confusion in the zone.

He called on members of the party to work as one, adding that the meeting was aimed at fostering unity in the zone.

The Newsmen reports that participants at the meeting supported the investigation of the alleged sabotage by some party chieftains.

The meeting then went into a closed-door interaction and as at the time of filing this report, the decision whether or not to set up the investigation has not been communicated to the press.