Abia APC – We did not collapse our structure with any party.

Perfect Okorie, the secretary of a faction of the All Progressive Congress in Abia State, has stated that his party's structure in the state is intact and has not collapsed with any other party.

On Saturday, Okorie spoke against the backdrop of a reconciliation meeting between the party's two factions in the state.

The party's splinter groups and their leaders gathered over the weekend and vowed to bury the hatchet and form a united front ahead of the general election in 2023.

Chief Donatus Nwamkpa, the state's previous chairman, preached peace and asked party members to abandon divisive activities and join the sole APC in Abia, as recognised by the party's national secretariat, with Ikechi Emenike as her flag bearer for the 2023 governorship election.

Nwamkpa, the fighting faction's leader, had stated that the chairman he had handed over had also quit the party and joined the Labour Party, while asking all of his supporters to join the united APC under state chairman Chief Kingsley Ononogbu.

In response, Okorie questioned Nwamkpa's allegation, claiming it was false.

"I know Donatus Nwamkpa, our former chairman, will not come out and make such things," he stated.

The Abia APC, led by Hon. Goldie Nwagbara as acting chairman and myself as secretary, is still intact; it has not moved, cannot move; it has not negotiated with anyone and is not willing to negotiate with anyone to the point of saying we are collapsing our structure.

Regardless of the theatrics that may be going on, we know we are the actual APC in the state. "We are the genuine APC."

"If there is any faction that exists in anyone's imagination, they should come and collapse with us," Okorie stated, adding that "if there is any structure that is collapsing, it should collapse with us."

Okorie revealed that the party's governorship candidate is Ogah. "On May 25, we held our party governorship primary in accordance with our party's NWC regulations, which was a direct primary." However, some individuals who believed they could not withstand the scrutiny of a fair fight devised an indirect primary procedure.

"Whatever the outcome is, it's none of their concern." But one thing remains sacrosanct: there can never be an indirect primary in Abia State, for the simple reason that, aside from a letter from the party's national chairman to that effect, it is on record that even INEC noted that the Abia APC never held any delegates congress to make room for an indirect primary."

The APC state scribe said that they conducted the primary on their own, following the NWC's instructions, and that the former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogah, was elected as the party's flag bearer in the state.

"The procedure that generated Ogah was adequately overseen by INEC, and the documents are there, therefore anything else somebody does is a waste of time," he stated.