APGA Faction Protests Awka Convention

The Chief Victor Umeh-led faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, has written a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission protesting against the party’s recent national convention in Awka, Anambra State.

The Umeh faction asked the commission to overrule the exercise, noting that “it was fraudulently convened and without capacity as enshrined in the constitution of APGA”.

The faction added that a group said to be loyal to the Anambra State Governor Peter Obi conducted the exercise.

It therefore urged INEC to exercise its monitoring powers as provided in the Electoral Act to “overrule the illegality”.

According to the faction, the essence of monitoring is to ensure that a political party complies with its constitution in the conduct of its convention and all processes leading to it.

In the petition to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Umeh and the party National Secretary, Sani Shinkafi, alleged that 21 of the 29 persons listed as State Chairmen of APGA were impostors, who were not even members of the party.

The letter dated April 15 and obtained by our correspondent on Monday read, “With shock, we write you this letter to protest the purported National Convention of APGA on April 8, 2013 at Awka held between the unholy hours of 1am and 5am of the said date with the other associated fraudulent manipulations. More shocking was the reported attendance of officials of INEC at the said event at the odd hours.

“Indications that something sinister was in the offing emerged in the afternoon of Friday, April 5, 2013, when a news flash indicated that INEC had approved that the purported convention would go on. But on inquiry, we were told that the Commission took the decision on the same Friday April 5, 2013.”

The petitioners also expressed “surprise at the turn of events” because according to them, the Anambra State governor had on February 25 written to INEC giving it notice for the party’s congresses and convention with a schedule of programmes based on “the same lame grounds for which INEC earlier rejected as lacking in credibility”.

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