Ex APGA chair, Umeh in N917m mess

Former National chairman of the party the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Victor Umeh may soon be a guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over how he spent about N917 million belonging to the his party.

According to a former member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the part, Chief Austin Ndigwe, the money accrued to the party from the sale of forms and screening of candidates during the 2013 governorship election in the state, and 2015 National and state Assembly elections in the country.

Ndigwe who addressed journalists in Awka, Anambra State, said that he had gathered materials ready for the attention of the the anti-graft agency to enable them quiz Umeh over how he spent the money belonging to the party.

He expressed surprise that Umeh said he left just N40 million in the party’s coffers during the June 6, National convention of the party in Awka, adding that he had to explain how he spent the money considering that only he and the national secretary were signatories.

He said they allegedly sidelined the National Treasurer who was also supposed to be a signatory to the accounts.

According to him, “APGA made N917 million from the sale of forms and screening of candidates during the elections. I have the documents relating to the sale of forms. But Umeh said no, it was N618 million, but could not account for it.

“I am on my way to the EFCC. He must come and explain how he spent this money and where the approval was given to him by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and its Board of Trustees (BOT) to spend”, he said.

According to him, Umeh ran APGA as his private company for eight years as its substantive chairman plus the three years he was in the saddle as acting chairman, stressing that the party was never audited for the 11 years he held sway.

Ndigwe who was also a former member of the party’s NEC and a foundation member of the party described Umeh as a very cunning and smart politician who allegedly blackmailed the party’s first national chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie to curry the then Governor Peter Obi’s favour.

He alleged that he also turned round and blackmailed Obi before Obiano, the incumbent governor after Obi worked very hard to make Obiano who was enjoying his retirement as Executive Director from Fidelity Bank Plc.

Umeh he said, didn’t support Obiano’s aspiration to be governor of Anambra State in the first place because as the former governor of the state, Obi made case for power shift to the North senatorial zone of the state, Umeh he explained, was talking South and made overtures to former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo from the South zone who he allegedly hoodwinked into parting with some money and dumped him.

“Umeh didn’t support Obiano in the first place. When we were talking of power shift to the North Senatorial Zone of the state, he was talking south.

Read also: Senate: Ekwunife, Oduah pummel Umeh, Ngige

“He brought Soludo and took a lot of money from him and later dumped him”, he said.

He alleged that Umeh’s greed led to the party’s dismal performance in the March 28, National Assembly elections where the party lost all the senate seats and won two out of 11 House of Representatives seats.

“How can one man be the national chairman and Senatorial candidate at the same time? It is simply greedy,” he said.

Part of the reason the party failed he said, was that those he allegedly short-changed after unfulfilled promises of tickets to run for the election only to abandon them after much personal expenditures took their pound of flesh on the party.

The former national chairman of the party, Chief Ndigwe said, never wanted to relinquish his position having schemed through amendments to the party constitution that would have made him stay for a third term in office, but like the bull in a china shop, he was beaten at his own game by Governor Obiano and subtly shown the way out through the convention.

He described the convention as a sham and improperly constituted because Umeh simply handpicked officers from the states and made Anambra favoured with majority of the national offices to the detriment of stakeholders from other states in the South East.

APGA he said was not an Anambra party because there are BOT members from other states, a reason he said the former chairman should have accommodated other people from other states if he wanted the party to grow beyond Anambra state.

He said that if Governor Obiano wanted people to come into the party he must start by overhauling it and ensure he watched Umeh carefully before he messes him up.

Ripples… without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now