The Special Assistant to Gov. David Umahi on Labour and Inter-Party Matters, Mrs Jennifer Adibe-Nwafor, said on Monday that she remained the state Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).
Adibe-Nwafor stated this in Abakaliki while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), urging the public to discountenance claims of the chapter’s headship from any source.
“I was duly elected as the state IPAC chairman on Nov. 8, 2018 by political party chairmen in Ebonyi and even if there should be any change in leadership, it should follow due process,” she said.
The governor’s aide said that those claiming that she was no longer the chairman, because article 5 (sections 1 and 2) of the IPAC code of conduct states that political office holders cease to be its executive members, should be disregarded.
“Such persons should prove where the section stipulates that the vice chairman should impose himself and start parading himself as the chairman.
“The state chapter has since suspended the vice chairman for gross misconduct by parading himself as the chairman when there is still a substantive chairman.
“We are not recognising him as vice chairman again until he repents and apologises for his conduct,” she said.
She urged members who wished to contest for offices in the chapter to avail themselves of the electoral process and not subvert existing authority which could lead to gross violation of the rules and misconduct.
“The election was supposed to be held between Nov. 4 and Nov. 15, 2019 but our national leadership communicated us of the change due to the gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa.
“A new date would be communicated to us after the gubernatorial elections as I have not decided whether to re-contest or not,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Lazarus Nwachukwu, the state IPAC Vice Chairman, told NAN in his reaction that he had become the Ebonyi chapter’s incumbent chairman.
“Article 5 (sections 1 and 2) of the IPAC code of conduct stipulates that any executive member who receives a governmental appointment ceases to occupy such position.
“Mrs Adibe-Nwafor is the SA to the governor on Labour and Inter-party matters and therefore ceases to be the state IPAC chairman.
“I, as the vice chairman, am currently the state chairman and we urge the pubic to take notice of this change,” he said.
NAN, however, received a communiqué from the state chapter, issued at the end of its meeting held on Oct. 17, 2019 where Nwachukwu was suspended indefinitely for acts of gross misconduct.
The communiqué was signed by 40 members and copied to the security agencies and other relevant organs.
It stipulated that Nwachukwu was suspended because he inaugurated an illegal executive committee and attempted to freeze the chapter’s bank accounts among other acts. (NAN)
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