The Anambra State government has shut down the state party office of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that supports Edozie Njoku.
The state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, called the problem in the party a small family disagreement. He believes it will be resolved soon.
While talking to reporters, Soludo said: “The people of Anambra believe that APGA is the best party for our state. In the past, there were problems and buildings were burned, but now, Anambra is peaceful because of APGA.
“Because of APGA, we have seen a lot of progress here, and the people of Anambra believe that APGA will continue to help our state grow.
“Under our leadership, APGA is stronger than ever before. You might hear things in the news about problems in our party, but this is normal before elections.
“Someone is saying they are the national chairman through a court order, but I haven’t seen this court order.
“This is just a family issue that will be solved soon. Everyone will come together, and we will be one big family again. I don’t see any real split in APGA. The people fighting are in court, and I hope they resolve their issues soon. After that, I believe they will join us again.
“APGA is a movement that has brought a lot of change, and I can tell you, APGA is stronger now than ever before.”
On the other side, the deputy National Chairman of the party for South-East, Rony Uche Ezekwelu, who supports Njoku’s faction, spoke to reporters. He was upset about their office being shut down.
He said: “This morning, everything was normal, and people came to buy forms for the upcoming local government election. Then, around 10 am, some people from the Anambra Housing Development Corporation came and shut down our office. Luckily, I was here in Anambra State for official duties to monitor the sale of forms.
“When we asked why, they said they had orders from higher up, and the reason was that this place is meant for housing, not for a party office.
“This place has always been used for party activities. Many politicians have used it before us, and we are not the owners of this property, so we have contacted the owner.
“We know this is political and an attempt to scare us, so we cooperated and let them do their job. We follow the law.
“We were not given any eviction notice. We came here just two months ago, and no one told us anything. We see this as an act of intimidation and bullying. This is not right.”
He insisted that the Njoku faction is the true APGA, and that they are open to accepting those who were not successful.