Failed Edo APC Ward Congresses: Members Threaten To Defect
Calls For Cancellation
THOUSANDS of members of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State, led by the Eson of Benin Kingdom, Chief Amos Osunbor, yesterday, protested Tuesday’s ward congress in the state and warned that they may seek an alternative party if the exercise was not cancelled, according to SCAN News report.
Meanwhile, APC, through its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Godwin Erhahon, said the party was ready to entertain genuine complaints, but would not succumb to blackmail with the aggrieved members’ threat to pull out from the party.
Among the protesters were Nosa Adams, Mrs Evelyn Igbafe and three members of the state House of Assembly, who called for the dissolution of the committee sent from Abuja to handle the congress.
They said: “The committee members became invisible when we were asked to send names. Due to their absence, no material was on ground to record the results.
“As if the whole exercise was designed to fail, they sponsored violence, armed thugs beat up and unleashed mayhem on fellow party members.
“We call for the immediate cancellation of the purported congress and dissolution of the committee in charge of the exercise.”
However, the state chairman of the party, Chief Osaro Idah, who described the exercise as a huge success, regretted that “after the congress, our opponents, who are not members of APC, started shooting in some areas to destabilise the process and create the impression that there was chaos.
“We have earlier received the information that some leaders of the opposition parties across the state mobilised thugs to destabilise our ward congress.
“I can say that the ward congress was 99 percent peaceful and it is the best congress we have ever had in the state.”
