The Unity House Foundation (UHF), a good governance advocate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State said it had begun the sensitisation of members of the party head of the forthcoming congress.
APC national leadership is yet to fix the dates for the party’s ward, local government and state congresses but the leader of the party in the state and minister of transportation, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had during his ministerial swearing-in, advised APC faithful in the state to prepare for the exercise.
The directive attracted sharp criticisms from top chieftains of the party in the state, especially the immediate-past senator representing Rivers south-east district in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, who said Amaechi does not have the power to decide for the party.
But UHF chairman, Chima Onuoha, while speaking in a live radio programme in Port Harcourt, explained that the group had already moved on with its sensitisation programme before the minister’s directive.
According to him: “Since it happened like that, we now on our own, remembered that we have to start on time to sensitise people on the proper congress. We have done that, we have trickled down to even the wards and units.
“We had started the sensitisation of our people, party people, even before the Honourable Minister made the statement. And I don’t think that the statement should have been an issue.
“There is a congress coming; we should know that we will have a congress. So, if that is the case and the Honourable Minister says, ‘go and prepare’ for it. What is wrong with that? I don’t see anything wrong myself.”