The crisis rocking the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Anambra State has taken another dimension, as the merging partners, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), have severed ties with the mega-opposition party.
The merger would have been an advantage for Senator Chris Ngige, the APC candidate in the governorship election to be held on November 16 in the state. But since Ngige was picked as the candidate, there have been grumblings as the merging partners complained of being sidelined.
Mr. Mike Igwilo, State Secretary of defunct ANPP, who disclosed the breakup to journalists in Awka, the State capital on Thursday, said the party was pulling out because it was not consulted in all the activities leading to the merger and the recent primaries in the state that produced Ngige as the candidate.
According to Igwilo, who said that the ANPP would make its next plans public at the end of September, “we are marginalised in the party and not being carried along. For this reason, we find it difficult to explain the merger to our supporters who now float like sheep without shepherd.”
In another disclosure to journalists, Mr. Chuba Ikeagwu, the State Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) explained that the party has joined the newly formed People’s Democratic Movement (PDM). He accused APC of not giving a level playing ground for other merging political parties to compete for the governorship ticket in the primaries.
He said APC’s activities were solely handled by the officials of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), adding that there was no equity in the sharing of positions.
