Augustine Ehiemere, the National Vice Chairman (South East) of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has officially confirmed the suspension of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South, from the party.
In a phone interview with LEADERSHIP from Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, Ehiemere addressed the recent suspension news concerning the senator, who is serving his fifth term in the Senate.
The suspension stems from Abaribe’s violation of the party’s constitution, as he holds membership in APGA while simultaneously leading the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the state, which constitutes a conflict of interest.
Ehiemere, a former APGA adc-collapse-rebukes-el-rufai/” title=”Kaduna SDP Firmly Denies Merging with …, Strongly Rebukes El-Rufai's Claims”>state chairman, revealed that the party’s secretary, Peter Nduka, publicly highlighted this infraction during a live broadcast on a local radio station last week.
Following this revelation, the state chairman, Sunday Onukwuiri, along with the State Working Committee, formally summoned Senator Abaribe to provide an explanation regarding the allegations. However, the senator failed to appear.
Furthermore, the party issued a written notice granting Abaribe a 24-hour window to respond and clarify the situation, but he did not submit any defense within the stipulated time.
Consequently, after the deadline elapsed last Thursday, the state chairman convened a meeting of the state executive council, which resulted in the senator’s suspension from APGA.
When asked if Senator Abaribe, who transitioned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APGA before joining ADC, had made any public statements about his suspension, Ehiemere stated, “He has not issued any response or comment anywhere.”
