Magnus Eze, Enugu
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, has appealed to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State to embrace peace in the interest of the party.
He decried the recent collapse of a fragile peace pact entered into by the previous two factions of the party in the State.
Two factions of the party led by Dr Ben Nwoye and Chief Okey Ogbodo, respectively, had been embroiled in bitter leadership dispute before Nwoye recently announced reconciliation of the two with a harmonised State Executive committee.
The peace was, however, truncated on Sunday when both factions held separate meetings in different venues in Enugu, with Onyeama in attendance at that of the Ogbodo-led faction of the party.
Speaking at the party meeting, Onyeama bemoaned what he said was Nwoye’s obstinate stand in resolving the long time differences among leaders of the party in the state.
Onyeama said: “For over five years there has been crises in Enugu APC and I called this meeting because I am the leader. I asked that the war should be over and everyone to forgive one another for the sake of a bigger picture and greater good of the APC.
“I asked Ben Nwoye to reach out to Okey Ogbodo so that the reconciliation will be conclusive but he did not. I asked Okey Ogbodo and he said Ben didn’t reach him. I agreed with Ben that the meeting should take place in the Dome Centre in New Haven that could accommodate members but he decided to move his own meeting to the party office.’
Members of the party who spoke at the meeting observed that the party was suffering in the state because of the crises and expressed readiness to resolve the issues that caused the crisis.