Crisis hits ACPN over Ezekwesili, campaign fund

The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has been hit with leadership crisis over the alleged mismanagement of campaign funds and the withdrawal of the party’s presidential candidate, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili.

The national chairman of the party, Alhaji Gani Galadima, who is also the vice presidential candidate to Mrs. Ezekwesili, had led party leaders to disowned her and adopted the candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari.

They accused her of using the party’s platform to negotiate for a ministerial appointment.

She however told newsmen in Abuja that she denied similar offers from successive administration after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s, where she served as both Minister of Steel Development and Minister of Education, respectively.

But some leaders of the party on Wednesday in Abuja accuse Galadima and some others of being ‘four political jobbers’.

They also confirmed the response made by the former presidential candidate of ACPN, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, that the leadership of the party were so greedy and desperate for money.

Those who spoke on behalf of the ACPN splinter group were Chief. Angus O. Uzoamaka, National Treasurer; Chief I. K. Okagbu, Chairman South East Zone and Dr. F.U. A. Nwanebu, Assistant Director General, South East Campaign.

When contacted, Galadima told newsmen that he would not respond to the claims by the group because he would speak to Nigerians over the matter on Thursday.

He however acknowledged that he knew ACPN Treasurer, Uzoamaka, but refused to speak on the allegation that he was not singlehandedly running the party’s account without taking the Treasurer along.

“Every effort made for the National Chairman, National Secretary and the North, South-West and South-South zones (led by Paul Alhasan Isamade, an Aboh-Kwale man) to submit names/office addresses and structure of the party for planning, budgeting and execution, and to enable willing donors see reasons for further support, were truncated by these four men, now rushing to APC without shame.

“It was when the presidential candidate and some of the campaign team discovered that fake proxies from different states and locations were assembled to an all-inclusive meeting in Abuja, and monies already disbursed for hotels, transport and sundry expenses, that it became necessary for explanation on how the additional N4.5 million transferred into ACPN account was expended,” the aggrieved party leaders said.