Jude Opara
14 October 2008
Abuja — All is no longer smooth in the day to day running of the affairs of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) after the party hierarchy shared the three Special Assistant slots offered them by the presidency as part of the agreements of the Government of National Unity (GNU) with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The secretary of the embattled ANPP, Senator Saidu Kumo was appointed as the Special Assistant to the president on Inter Party Affairs, the Deputy National Chairman (South) Ebute Ayuk was given the portfolio as the Special Assistant on Non Governmental Organizations while the party chairman Chief Edwin Umezeoke had his son Chimezie Umezeoke appointed as the Special Assistant on Civil Societies.
But apart from the bottled up anger among some members of the executive of the party, the insinuations that Kumo and Ayuk are planning to hold on to their positions as well as their political appointments is not going down well with most of the party stakeholders.
But National Publicity Secretary of the party Emma Enukwu told Champion Newspapers on phone that the issue of whether the two gentle men will resign or not would be decided by the National Working Committee (NWC).
"The NWC will meet to take a decision on that issue but let me quickly tell you that non of them has said he will not resign, so wait until we take a decision".
Another insider who pleaded anonymity revealed that apart from Kumo and Ayuk who directly benefited from the presidential appointments, the popular view is the chairman Chief Umezeoke will have to equally resign since he also benefited by putting his son there.
Our man decried the recent events in the party saying nobody now understands the leadership "who will at one time shout GNU and at the next turn they will tell you we are not part of the GNU, it's like the whole idea of joining the so called GNU is for some people to share from the spoils of office".
According to him, if things continue like this in the party it then means that there will be no grounds for anybody there to complain of any wrong doing by the PDP led federal government again.
"I tell you it is immoral for the chairman and the secretary of this party to share everything that comes it then means that the rest of us are being used and guinea pigs for them to realize their selfish ambitions".
You may recall that the ANPP the second largest party in Nigeria has been in disarray after the 2007 presidential elections with their presidential candidate Gen Muhammed Buhari (rtd) still in court to challenge the election of president Yar'Adua.
But curiously, the part chairman and the vice presidential candidate, Chief Edwin Umezeoke is neck deep into the GNU of the PDP led federal government.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
