The All Progressives Congress, APC, Enugu State Chapter, on Friday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the renomination of Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama as a minister.
DAILY POST reports that Onyeama was one of the few cabinet members renominated by Buhari, a development that has now stirred fresh controversy among members of the party in his State, Enugu.
Arising from a meeting of the State Executive Committee, SEC, of the party, the members said the President should withdraw the nomination in the interest of the country.
Chairman of the party in the State, Dr. Ben Nwoye, who briefed journalists after the SEC meeting, said the decision was taken considering the antecedents and performance of the former minister.
He alleged that “Mr. Onyeama is known for sponsoring election violence in Enugu State; we recall what he did during the party’s congress, where he went ahead to conduct parallel congresses from the ward to the state level in contravention with extant laws of the party.
“Recall also that on the course of the governorship primary election, the Enugu APC chose indirect or delegate primary election, but while the election was on, the former minister stormed the place and the disorganized the entire exercise, many were injured, tear-gassed and violently beaten.
“These are reasons SEC looked at, and we are also calling on the US to consider him as one of those to be banned, because he has several times involved himself in sponsorship of electoral violence, these things are on tape.”
Nwoye equally said the SEC ex-rayed the performance of the former minister and came to a conclusion that he fared below average.
“The committee looked at his general performance and found it to be woeful. As Foreign Affairs Minister, at least 118 Nigerians were killed in South-Africa, and 13 of those were extra-judicially killed by the police.
“In all of these, Onyeama has been unable to formulate policies that will address these issues.
“His underperformance came to the fore when a Special Assistant to the President on diaspora matters was appointed, the first of its kind, and she has been diligently performing that job.
“These are the reasons SEC is saying the nomination should be withdrawn and a replacement made. If it goes through, Nigerians in diaspora will suffer.
“We believe that Mr. President did not have some of these information when he renominated him; we owe him that as a duty to bring this information to him.
“This is beyond politics; we are now in governance; we have to bring out the fact notwithstanding ethnic, political affiliations and personal relationships.”
On calls for his expulsion by a former Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Onyemuche Nnamani over his opposition to Onyeama’s nomination, Nwoye said he would not dignify a non-member of the party with a response.
“Onyeama has been expelled from the party; you will notice that he has not been seen during any of the party’s activities in long while.
“He was expelled based on a suit he filed without exhausting internal remedies. He never challenged the expulsion but went on with his case, which he lost. He never appealed the expulsion and the process of appeal has since expired. So, he is not a member of the party,” the chairman said.
