APC impeaches Cross River chairman

Alphonsus Ogar Eba, chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), has been impeached by the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party.

His removal was attributed to refusal to pay four months’ salaries, alleged embezzlement, and not carrying members of the State Working Committee along.

The removal was carried out after 30 of the 32 members SEC voted against his continued stay as the chairman of the APC in Cross River.

It was noted that the decision to impeach him followed a similar vote of no confidence against him by the local government chairmen, secretaries, and vice chairmen of the party.

Read also: Cross River APC crisis deepens as partymen demand chairman’s resignation

His impeachment was further supported by the vote of no confidence passed on him by the 196 ward chairmen of the APC in the state.

Following Eba’s impeachment, the State Working Committee (SWC) met and was appointed an acting chairman by the State Working Committee (SWC).

The motion for the appointment of an acting chairman was raised by the State Welfare Secretary of the party, Okara Ekawu, and seconded by the state treasurer, Mathew Egom.

Ekawu premised his motion on Article 17 subsection 6 of the party’s constitution and further noted that the appointment be made pending the ratification of the National Working Committee (NWC).

Reacting in a telephone interview, Eba said: “My purported impeachment is a joke taken too far, God will speak at the appropriate time. I won’t say more than this for now.”

Read also: APC endorses Otu’s second term as governor of Cross River

Meanwhile, the acting chairman, Ekum Ojogu, who promised to work for the unity of the party, appealed to all aggrieved members to close ranks and confine the event of the past few weeks to the “dustbin of history.”

According to him, “I will fight for the party’s stability, and so, I appeal to us all to set aside any differences and misunderstandings that may have arisen during the crisis and let’s work for the interests of the APC.

“I will operate an open-door policy, carry everyone along, and want us to know that the APC remains committed to delivering dividends of democracy to our people,” he stated.

While pledging to be loyal to Governor Bassey Otu, he said, “I want to believe, and I know that the battle of the last few weeks will only make us stronger.”

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