Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, says the forthcoming state congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will provide a platform for the party to become competitive in Enugu State.
Onyeama said this on Sunday in Enugu during a meeting of stakeholders of APC from Enugu West Senatorial zone.
The minister said that the state chapter of the party had passed through a lot of challenges over the years and needed to move on in unity.
The minister said that he was prevailed upon to convene the meeting due to the imminent state congresses of the party as the APC in the state had largely been viewed as a huge joke in the past six years.
He, however, said that the forthcoming congress of the party would provide a new dawn and an opportunity to get things right.
Onyeama called for unity among party faithful from the zone and the state in general and appealed to party members not to destroy the APC with their personal ambitions.
“This is an opportunity as stakeholders to make our input so that the path we will follow will be consensual.
“When you look at a lot of the challenges we are facing in the state, it becomes important that we are united.
“It is normal to have a personal ambition but we also have to keep an eye on the bigger picture and make personal sacrifices by subsuming such ambition for the greater picture,” he said.
According to the minister, if the APC will defeat PDP, win and form the next government in the state, it is not something the party members can just sit down and see it happen.
“The whole purpose of this meeting is not about self-fulfillment or aggrandizement but about service to our people. Our people are suffering and it is totally unconscionable for us to be blind to this reality.
“If we are serious for APC to be a party that will defeat PDP and deliver to the common people, then, let us try to fashion out a roadmap that will be as inclusive and peaceful as we can possibly make it,” he said.
Onyeama called on the stakeholders to look at issues of zoning and rotation of party offices dispassionately and agree on the way forward.
Also, former governor of the state, Mr Sullivan Chime, said that it was a given that Enugu West Senatorial Zone would produce the next party chairman during the congress in August.
Chime, however, said that such person must have character and integrity.
The former governor said that a lot of people were joining the APC and some through the back door but are not comfortable with the leadership.
According to him, if the APC gets the leadership correctly this time, people will become proud to identify with it.
He said that it would be easy for the APC to win the governorship seat in the state but the party leadership must first work together and allow the members to decide who would lead them.
Chime said that if someone who had respect was chosen as party chairman in the next congress, party members would be comfortable to identify with such person and things would change.
“We need someone that his presence will be felt and not someone that people will not have confidence in. Such person must have character, integrity and not compromising.
“The ward elections will take place this month. This is the time to prepare for 2023 and if as a party we fail this time around, then everyone will go and look for something else to do,” Chime said.
Other dignitaries that attended the stakeholders meeting included the immediate past Vice Chairman of the party, South-East, Chief Emma Enukwu.
Also in attendance was the Commissioner representing Enugu State in the Federal Character Commission, Mrs Ginika Tor.
