Abia APC risks not presenting candidates for 2023 elections

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State may be running the risk of not being allowed to field gubernatorial and other candidates in the coming 2023 general elections unless the leadership takes urgent steps to address the crisis that has engulfed the party.

Chief Obinna Oriaku, one of the gubernatorial aspirants in the state told The Guardian, yesterday, that the Mallam Buni-led ad hoc Executives Committee imposed leaders on the state APC.

He said: “The APC became the rallying point of many disenchanted Abians as a veritable opposition until the Mallam Buni led ad hoc Executives Committee imposed leaders on the state APC.”

He expressed worry that all the efforts made by the APC ad hoc executives to see the reason why Abians cannot support “imposition and impunity in the party, especially coming from unpopular contestants,” came to naught.

He said that the situation has caused threats by top members to exit the party, including the mass exodus of quality members and aspirants, which have almost shut the opportunity APC has to take over the Abia government in 2023.

Oriaku said: “The events that led to the primary election of May 26, 2022, which has further exposed the state APC to multiple litigations, have the capacity of producing the similar situation that stopped Rivers and Zamfara states from presenting gubernatorial candidates for 2019 election.

Oriaku, who is a former Abia Finance Commissioner and one of the APC guber aspirants aggrieved over the conduct of the party primaries for the election of candidates, noted: “The task or choice before the APC and the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, is to look for a political solution to the Abia APC crisis by identifying, among the aspirants, who are acceptable to fly the party’s flags in 2023 and not impose or hand-pick the candidates.”

He said that the majority of the governorship aspirants are already heading to different courts, especially as the national leadership of APC has decided to ignore the fraud that took place on May 26, 2023.