By Maurice Okafor, Enugu
The planned official launch of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) electronic membership registration in Enugu State on Thursday, March 5, was disrupted following a disagreement between the state leadership of the party and a committee reportedly sent by the party’s National Secretariat.
The exercise, which was scheduled to take place at Admiral Resorts Hotel, Independence Layout, Enugu, turned chaotic as the dispute escalated, forcing organisers to abruptly suspend the event.
Trouble began when Barr. Chukwuemeka John Okereke, who led the committee allegedly dispatched by the National Secretariat, was confronted by supporters of the state party chairman, Mrs Stella Chukwuma. The loyalists accused him of failing to inform the state chairman about the committee’s activities and intentions.
The disagreement, fuelled by mistrust of the committee by supporters of the state chairman, degenerated into mayhem and disrupted movement in and out of the hotel premises.
In a video circulating on social media platforms in Enugu, Barr. Okereke said he was held hostage for more than four hours by a group of young men.
He expressed gratitude to the DPO of New Haven Police and the Enugu State Commissioner of Police CP Mamnan Bitrus Giwa, for eventually coming to his rescue.
Speaking with journalists, a chieftain of the party, Hon. David Williams, described the disruption as the work of “miscreants” allegedly determined to undermine the party’s progress in the state.
His words, “In as much as there was some attempt by some miscreants to truncate the efforts being made by our super chairman, at the end of the day we came out victorious,” Williams said.
He declined to name those involved but warned that the party would resist any attempt to hijack its structure in Enugu.
“One message we have for them is that ADC is here to stay and we are not going to allow anybody to use proxies to hijack this party. They want to introduce money politics into the party, but we the faithful will resist it,” he added.
Another APC Chieftain, A former Senator of Enugu East Senatorial district, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, while addressing newsmen expressed optimism that the crisis would soon be resolved.
He stated, “The disagreement stemmed from the roles assigned to the registration committee and the state party leadership. There is a little misunderstanding somewhere between the chairman of the registration exercise and the state chairman.
“As stakeholders, we are going to resolve the issue to make sure the registration goes on smoothly”.
Nnaji explained that while the committee claimed it was mandated to set up structures for the exercise across the local government areas, the state party structure believed the materials should be handed over directly to them to coordinate registration at the ward level.
He assured members that party leaders would convene further meetings to harmonise the positions of both sides, noting that the party had only two weeks to complete the nationwide registration exercise.
Despite the disruption, party leaders insisted that the e-registration process had already commenced online, while efforts were ongoing to reconcile the feuding factions and prevent a full-blown leadership crisis in the Enugu chapter of the party.
