Uwa Vs. Umahi: APC Ngbo Ward Exco Rejects Bribe And The Call For suspension Of Chief Chijioke Uwa.
The raging controversy in Ebonyi State over the letter of complaint written by a former Federal Commissioner and, presently, member representing the Southeast in the All Progressives Congress National Committee for the Mobilization of Women, Youths and People Living with Physical Challenges, Hon. Chijioke Uwa, against the embattled governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi on 7th July, 2021 has taken a new dimension with the collapse of efforts by the duo of a former senator who represented Ebonyi North district and a former Ebonyi APC State Chairman serving in Governor Umahi's cabinet to procure a suspension order against Hon. Chijioke Uwa from the All Progressives Congress Ward Executive Council of Ngbo Ward of Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State.
It is on record that Hon. Chijioke Uwa who served as an elected Council Chairman of Ohaukwu LGA in 1997; Chairman of the Governing Board of Federal Polytechnic Auchi; member representing the Southeast in the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja; and later as pioneer Federal Commissioner of Public Complaints Commission in charge of Ebonyi State is a registered member of All Progressives Congress in his native Ngbo Ward. Uwa who joined APC in 2018 and served as member Ebonyi APC 2019 Gubernatorial Campaign Council and Chairman of the 2019 campaign rally in Ohaukwu LGA had in his 7th July letter entitled "Report of continued heartless and ignoble treatment of Ebonyi APC martyrs and Ebonyi APC surviving but exiled heroes/heroines of the 2019 presidential and other elections; and extreme sideline of the old APC members in Ebonyi State by Governor David Umahi" and addressed to the APC National Committee complained that the governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi, had serially breached the promises he made in Abakaliki before the National Chairman of APC and members of APC National delegation which came to receive him (Umahi) into APC on 18th November, 2020 to: "(1) mourn the said APC martyrs who were killed by his agents for voting for All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections and pay compensation to their survivors to enable them absorb the shock of the untimely deaths of their respective breadwinners; (2) release those he clamped into prison and those facing trial for the "crime" of voting for All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019; (3) reinstate those forced into exile and restitute their respective inheritances which they were divested of them for the same "crime" of voting for APC and President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general election; and (4) to accommodate the old APC members in both the structure and running of the APC and his administration in Ebonyi State". Uwa prayed the APC National Chairman and the APC National leadership to (a) Encourage Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State to demonstrate sincerity and commitment to All Progressives Congress; his much mouthed loyalty and love for President Muhammadu Buhari in practical terms; and his much avowed Christianity for which he bears the bogus titles of "Apostle/Deacon" by mourning All Progressives Congress members killed by Umahi's agents, releasing without delay the people he has continued to detain in prisons in Ebonyi State, those on trial before various courts in Ebonyi State, reinstating those in forced exile and restituting their respective inheritances especially those from Obegueji in Agbaja Community of Izzi Local Government Area whose only crime was that they voted and sought to protect their votes for the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections.
(b) Governor David Umahi should also be persuaded to reasonably assist the widows, orphans and survivors of APC members killed in the aftermath of their support for President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC in the 2019 general elections as well as those he imprisoned or forced into exile for the same reason. These (a and b as stated above) were the conditions which Governor David Umahi volunteered before Your Excellency and other APC National leaders as he apologized after our protest on the day of his purported lone defection into APC in Ebonyi State at the Presidential Lodge of the old Government House, Abakaliki"; among other reliefs.
It was gathered that the senator and the commissioner had on Sunday, 11th July summoned APC ward executives of Ngbo Ward to an emergency meeting at the commissioner's home in Ngbo Court Area. In the meeting, the commissioner said that presented an already prepared purported suspension resolution against Hon. Chijioke Uwa and told the Ngbo Ward APC executives that "Oga" wanted them to sign it or he (Oga) would sack all political appointees from Ohaukwu LGA among whom he (the commissioner) is the highest. The APC executives of Ngbo Ward rejected the demand for Hon. Uwa's suspension with the accompanying envelope of undisclosed sum of money on the grounds that "Hon. Chijioke Uwa did not deserve punishment for summoning courage to speak the truth in defense of voiceless party mrmbers; and that both the senator and commissioner who were from Umuogudu Akpu Ward 1 have no right to order them about in that manner especially in view of the fact that APC Ngbo Ward Executive Council meetings cannot hold in Umuogudu Akpu Ward 1". This response irked the commissioner who locked the APC Ngbo ward executives in his house between 1pm to 4pm when a stakeholder from Ngbo Ward acting on a tip-off arrived the commissioner's home and caused the release of the "detainees".
On Monday, 12th July, 2021, the All Progressives Congress Ngbo Ward Executive Council met at Amofia Town Hall and threw their support behind Hon. Chijioke Uwa whom they described as an altruistic leader who protected them from harm during the turbulent 2019 general elections and a witness of truth who merely stated the "factual lot of old APC members in Ebonyi State. Going further, the APC ward executives resolution held "That Hon./Chief Chijioke Igwe Uwa's letter was well within his constitutional rights to freedom of expression and the All Progressives Congress internal conflict resolution channel and so undeserving of reprimand, suspension or any disciplinary action within the contemplation of any known Nigerian statute and/or the constitution of All Progressives Congress. This is moreso as neither the Governor of Ebonyi State nor any of his aides has been able to controvert Hon./Chief Chijioke Igwe Uwa's claims in the letter under review".
With this development, Hon. Chijioke Uwa's vindication seems to have begun.
