Ex-Gov Chime's kinsmen fault his claim that APC Enugu State Chairman, Agballah, was not registered party member

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Udi/Agbudu ward, in Udi LGA of Enugu State at the weekend faulted claims by the former Governor of Enugu state, Barr. Sullivan Chime that the APC Chairman-elect and former Commissioner for Works in the state, Hon. Barr. Ugochukwu Agballah was not a registered member of the party. Both Chime and Agballah hail from the same ward, Udi/Agbudu and are chieftains of the APC in the state. But following the emergence of Agballah as the State Chairman of the party, in a landslide victory, during the October 16, 2021 State Congress of APC, Chime, who backed a different aspirant, (Group Capt. Joe Orji, rtd.), against his kinsman, Agballah, had gone before a national reconciliation committee of the party to claim that Agballah was not a registered member of the party. But putting a lie to Chime's blatant, barefaced false claim, members of the party at the weekend, released two video clips and pictures of the APC Ward Congress of the party which took place last year, where the former Governor of Enugu state, Sullivan Chime, seconded the nomination of Hon. Barr. Ugo Agballah, as a State delegate from Udi/Agbudu ward to the State Congress of the party that took place later in October 16, 2021. The ward stakeholders argued, "if Agballah was not a registered member of the party, why would he be attending the party's ward congress and why would he be nominated and his nomination seconded by Chime as a state delegate of Udi/Agbudu ward to the October 16th 2021 State Congress? The stakeholders argued that following mass appeal to Agballah to take over the mantle of leadership of the party in order to reposition it and prepare it to be able to win elections in the state; he acceded to the request and contested the state chairmanship, which he won overwhelmingly. In one of the videos, Chime is seen reading the elected ward list to the members of the Ward Congress Electoral panel in the presence of their chairman, Dr Ijeoma Arodiogbu, who witnessed the Udi ward Congress in the presence of Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, the Hon Minister of foreign Affairs. In one of the videos which was also relayed on NTA and TVC and carried by National newspapers, Chime could be heard telling the press that the ward congress was the best ever held in the ward. In a related development all ward chairmen from the 81 wards in Enugu West had petitioned the Reconciliation Committee asking Chime to recuse himself from the membership of the Committee since he is an interested party to the case in Enugu state. Chime, who incidentally, is the secretary of the Reconciliation Committee, is also the arrow-head of a handful of opposition against Agballah's victory, whose election had already been ratified by the Congress Appeal Committee of the party led by Dr. Bernard Mikko. The State Congress in Enugu state was conducted by a seven man Congress Committee headed by Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu. It was before the Reconciliation Committee headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former Governor of Nasarawa State that the former Governor of Enugu State, Chime "made spirited efforts to mislead the Committee through falsehood, by claiming that Agballah is not a registered member of the party," the group stated. However, a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Emma Eneukwu had countered Chime’s false claims and also drawing his attention to the Electoral guidelines of APC which gave a waiver to all new members to vote and be voted for. The Stakeholders of Udi/Agbudu ward had alleged that Chime was telling lies and that he was on a mission to destroy APC in the state before returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he had been promised a senatorial ticket for Enugu West senatorial district. Chief Emma Eneukwu who is also from Udi and who had brought Sullivan into APC six years ago, in his submission before the panel, unequivocally stated that the former Governor, since joining APC had been a liability to the party as he had always lost every election in his polling booth and has never supported the party financially nor attracted new members to the party and has been in the habit of antagonizing any leader from Udi LGA as he is presently doing to Agballah, who had nominated him into the state government in 1999 when he was Campaign Director of Chimaroke Nnamani campaign organisation. "He became governor by chance because his predecessor, Chimaroke Nnamani handpicked him and railroaded him into office even when he lost the guber elections twice to Ugochukwu Agballah. "We know that his anger and opposition to Agballah was because Agballah defeated him twice in the governorship poll of the state in 2003 and 2007, but in each occasion, they manipulated the result in his favour. "But he has developed phobia for Agballah; as his kinsmen we can tell the world the truth. Chime knows deep down inside him that he is not a political match to Agballah. But it is God that gives power and grace," he said. Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs also from Udi LGA in his submission said that Agballah won with a landslide and he is the most competent and capable person amongst the entire aspirants; and that no one including Sullivan can impugn his competence for the job. He said that he is surprised that they are still talking about the congress. He also insisted that Sullivan Chime should honorably excuse himself from the panel since he is an interested party. To collaborate the minister’s allegation Mr Vin Martin Ilo, who Chime had invited to the panel as a member of his faction told the bewildered panel that Chime is the leader of one of their own faction. Until this revelation, Chime had misled the panel to believe he was an uninterested arbiter. Meanwhile, in the two video clips presented as evidence to contradict Chime’s lies, the former Governor was seen not only seconding the nomination of Ugochukwu Agballah as a state delegate, but he was seen presenting him to the Congress. A picture taken at the Udi/Agbudu ward congress showed Chime in a group photograph with Ugo Agballah, Geoffrey Onyeama, Ijeoma Arodiogbu, the chairman of the panel and others. Members of the panel were embarrassed by the video and pictures and statements of the Udi leaders which portrayed Chime as dishonorable.