By Ezeocha Nzeh
The South East stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) maybe going into the March 26 National Convention of the party with divisions as members of the South East zone of the party are currently in crisis over the micro zoning of National Working Committee (NWC) position zone to it
The South east, according to zoning list released by the APC National Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), was zoned to produce four national officers, – Deputy National Chairman (South), National Vice Chairman South East, National Treasurer and National Welfare Secretary – were zoned to the South East geopolitical Zone.
However, party sources confirmed to our correspondent that while Governors Hope Uzodimma and Dave Umahi of Imo and Ebonyi state respectively may have hijacked the process of picking candidates for the offices, the former President of the Senate and a member of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator Ken Nnamani is alleged to have imposed himself on other stakeholders for the position of the Deputy National Chairman (South) to himself.
The source, who stated that Ken Nnamani is from Enugu State, a state which had produced a member of the NWC for six years and a Caretaker Committee for 2 years said it would be wrong for the State to produce another NWC member without allowing other states that have not tested the position.
The source gave a breakdown of other South East states that had occupied the NWC positions as follows: Anambra State (National Auditor) six years and Imo State (National Organizing Secretary) six years.
The stakeholder noted that Anambra, Imo and Enugu States have occupied the positions of APC NWC in the past, stressing therefore that it is logical and moral to allow Abia and Ebonyi States to have the choice of first refusal.
It was gathered further that the stakeholders have failed to arrive at an agreement, after meeting two times to harmonize it zoning, even as they blamed the two APC Governors in the zone of trying to impose candidates for the other states in the offices that vwere micro zoned to them
He argued that other geo-political zones are applying such methods of allowing those states that were not in the last NWC to choose first.
He gave an example of South South where in the last NWC, Edo, Rivers and Cross River States were in the NWC. According to him, the zone is considering first, Bayelsa and Delta despite they occupied the positions in the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
Also, in the North East, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe States were on the NWC, now the zone is considering Borno, Bauchi and Taraba States for the NWC positions zoned to them. They have the Deputy National Chairman (North) and National Auditor, plus the statutory National Vice Chairman North East.
The South East source said it would be wrong for the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani from Enugu State to appropriate Deputy National Chairman (South) to himself as being alleged, addiong that the zone should look at those that would make impact in the NWC and the party at the zone for consideration.
“There are people who believed in the party from formative stage and they would be in the position to beat the burdens of the party at the NWC and the zones.
“It would morally and logically wrong for a tenant to occupy the better part of a building than the landlord.”
