The selection of Mr. Geoffrey Onyema as the Enugu State ministerial nominee for the long-awaited cabinet of President Muhamadu Buhari has thrown the state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) into disarray.
Reports had it that the Chief of Staff to President Muhamadu Buhari, Aba Kyari from Borno State, single-handedly chose Onyeama, who was his classmate at Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom to represent Enugu State in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
This development shocked members of APC in Enugu State who thought that one of them would be picked to represent the State in the FEC.
Following the nomination of Onyeama who is not a member of the party as minister, most bigwigs of Enugu APC shunned a meeting of the State Executive Committee and stakeholders of the party last weekend.
Notable among those who were not in attendance at the poorly attended meeting include the National Vice Chairman, South-East, Emma Eneukwu, the gubernatorial candidate, Okey Ezea, his Deputy, Juliet Ibekaku, Osita Okechukwu, Onyemuche Nnamani and Brigadier Gen. Joseph Okoloagu (rtd).
Although the meeting which was only attended by state, local government and ward executives was almost silent on the nomination of Onyeama, a motion to condemn a newspaper publication against his choice as Minister was unanimously rejected at the meeting.
The said report had alleged that the ministerial nominee was unknown to the party and has not been in the country for about two decades now.
Although journalists were not allowed to be part of the meeting, inside sources disclosed that there was a disagreement when a motion was raised for the meeting to condemn the newspaper publication.
It was gathered that the meeting eventually carried the position of the majority of those in attendance that there was no need to condemn the facts in the newspaper publication and the motion was consequently thrown out.
The meeting eventually ended without any communique.
Efforts to reach the State Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Kate Ofor yielded no fruits as at press time, but a member of the State Executive Committee who pleaded anonymity confirmed that the motion to condemn the newspaper publication against the nomination of Onyeama as Enugu’s ministerial nominee was thrown out at the meeting.
