Rivers ACN moves to expel chairman

THE Action Congress of Nigeria in Rivers State said it was initiating the process of expelling its suspended chairman, Mr. Uche Okwukwu, from the party.

The Acting State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Mr. Jerry Needam, said this in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH.

Needam noted that the party’s national secretariat had already upheld the suspension of Okwukwu, adding that the next step would be to expel him from the party.

He said the need to expel Okwukwu became necessary when he refused to appear before a disciplinary committee set up by the state chapter of the party.

Okwukwu was suspended as the state chairman of ACN over his alleged involvement in anti-party activities.

His suspension was announced in a statement signed by Needam and made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt last week.

Needam explained, “We are initiating the process of expelling him from the party because he failed to appear before the disciplinary committee of the party over his involvement in anti-party activities.”

But in a swift reaction, Okwukwu insisted that he remained the chairman of the party in the state, describing his purported suspension as baseless.

He maintained that it was wrong for Needam to announce his purported suspension, stressing that the current Acting Publicity Secretary had no such powers.

Explaining that Needam is not a card-carrying member of the ACN, Okwukwu said the relationship between Needam and the party’s governorship candidate, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, was like that of a servant and his master.

The embattled chairman said, “Jerry (Needam) is doing the bidding of his master. He is not a card-carrying member of the party. The way forward is that I am still the state chairman of the ACN.

“Those who are not comfortable with my position should leave the party. I am the leader of the party and Needam cannot issue a statement that I have been suspended from the party,” Okwukwu stressed.

However, Needam dismissed the claim, saying his name was number one on the register of card-carrying members of the party in Kono, Khana Local Government Area.

He explained that the issue was not about his membership of the party, but Okwukwu’s action, which did not go down well with the ACN.