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David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Anambra State Government has sealed the state party secretariat of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) faction loyal to Edozie Njoku.

This is coming as the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, described the crisis in the party as a minor family misunderstanding, which would be settled soon.

Soludo, while briefing journalists, said: “Anambra people seem to have come to the conclusion that APGA is the party for the state. It’s no longer those years of burning down buildings and turmoil in the state. Anambra State is now stable because of APGA.

“That has been the reason for the progress we have witnessed here, and Anambra State seems to have come to a consensus that APGA is the party to develop the state.

“Under our leadership, APGA has never been stronger than what it is today. You asked this question about crisis because of the things you see in the media, about our party, but I know that things like these are normal during run up to election.

“I know someone else is claiming that he is the national chairman and that is through court order, and I haven’t seen that court order myself.

“This is just a family problem that will be sorted out soon, and everyone will come into the same big tent. I don’t see any division in APGA. I understand the disputants are in court and hopefully, they will resolve soon it, and I hope that after that, two of them will come into this tent.

“APGA is a movement that has been used for transformations, and I can tell you that APGA has never been stronger than now.”

Meanwhile, the Deputy National Chairman, of the party (Southeast), Hon Tony Ezekwelu, who represents the Njoku faction of the party, spoke to journalists raising the alarm about the sealing of their office, describing the APGA-led government of the state as intimidating them.

He said: “We came here this morning and people were going about their normal duties, buying their Expression of Interest forms for the forthcoming local government election when at around 10 a.m., a team from Anambra Housing Development Corporation came and sealed our office. Luckily, I was in the state because I have been around on official duties to monitor how the sale of expression of interest form.

“When we asked them why, they said it’s an order from above, and that the reason was that this place is originally meant to be residential area and we converted it to party secretariat.

“This place has always been used for party business and we are just the recent people using this. Too many politicians have used this place and we are not the owners of this property, so we have reached out to the owner of the property.

“We know that this is political and the intention was just to intimidate us, so we told them not to obstruct them, but to allow them to do their duties. We are law-abiding people.

“We were not served any eviction notice. We came in here just two months ago, and no one wrote to us. We view this as an act of intimidation and suppression. This is impunity.”

He insisted that Njoku faction of the party remained the most authentic, and that the faction was ready to accommodate others he described as “sore losers.”