The Abia State Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ceekay Igara, has stated that his alleged impeachment is false and unfounded as he remains the legitimate Chairman of the Council.
Igara made this known in a press conference held on Friday, August 27, at the IPAC Secretariat, #77 Mission Hill Umuahia.
Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), is an umbrella body of various Registered political parties in a state.
Recall that a communiqué released after a General Assembly meeting on Tuesday, August 24, signed by Comrade Victor Umunna (APM), Hon. Joseph Ulu (NRM), and others, announced the impeachment of Ceekay Igara as Chairman over alleged embezzlement of fund, high handedness, among others.
Reacting to his alleged impeachment, Igara who noted that an Assistant Chairman and Assistant Secretary cannot impeach the Chairman said;
I want to state clearly that Ceekay Igara has not been impeached. He is the state chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council, Abia State. Tony Orji is the secretary, and has not been suspended, Uzodinma Nwoko has not been suspended, Uma, none of the executives has been suspended except two persons who obviously are not party chairmen, who we have been accommodating because of we feel that they are idle, so we said, lets see whether we can carry on with them. But unfortunately, they decided to proof.
He added; Ulu, Assistant Secretary, Victor Umunna stands suspended for 6 months. This is a window to reconcile their documentation to confirm to us that they are party chairmen, if they are, we absorb them.
On his alleged embezzlement of funds, he explained;
“honestly, I don’t think they understand the meaning of embezzlement. If they understand the meaning of embezzlement, you embezzle money from where? We visited the governor, the governor gave us some money, and said take for your transportation and he said as you are leaving , use part of this money and pay for your rent and that same day I told the secretary, make sure you pay for the rent.
The other day, the National Chairman came and gave us N1.5M and he said, use that N1.5M; because I have seen Ulu and Umunna, their eyes are on this money, please don’t disclose how much I gave to you so that they will not come after this money. What you need to do is, bring out N1M so you can furnish this office to look like an office, bring out N500,000 let you guys use for transportation.
So when I brought that, they called me named called me a criminal…. so I hid that N1M based on the instruction I received from the National chairman. So what they did was to snatch the N500,000 from this guy till today they are still holding that N500,000, I didn’t call anybody, I kept quite. Because of that action, I had to bring out the remaining N1M, and started sharing to every party chairman, N50,000 including them, so we didn’t achieve our purpose”.
He said the Department of State Service (DSS), is aware of the money allegedly snatched, but he decided not to push the case.
He also stated that the past Executives of the Council looted the furniture and other facilities in IPAC Secretariat, adding that he has personally been funding some of the activities of the Council as IPAC does not have any fund.
Igara also noted that;
When I took over as IPAC Chairman, we had over 90 political parties, too many of them didn’t even know the National Chairman of their Parties, they didn’t know the Secretariat of their parties , but we kept quiet and we were going, fortunately and unfortunately, INEC de-registered 74 of them leaving only 18 political parties and they started accusing me that I was the mastermind of the de-registration which I didn’t bother.
He said when he was elected as chairman, he informed the members that they were going to bring sanity to the system on which ground he approached the INEC, requesting for a list of political Chairmen in Abia State, “ unfortunately, they gave me some names who were no longer members of the party they gave me. For instance Hon. Chidi Nwosu was mentioned as SDP Chairman, when he was in APC, likewise Enwerem was mentioned as PRP Chairman when chief Larry is the chairman.
In all these contradictions, I said it is important we set a standard rule; before you become a party chairman, you must get an appointment letter signed by your National Chairman or a representing letter given to you from your National Chairman to act on their behalf in the state or you also conduct a congress and be returned as chairman of the party.
Someone who was returned as a congress chairman can write us and appoint you as his representative, these are the three systems of being a member of IPAC.
According to him Ulu and Umunna does not have any of the processes as agreed. They rather pleaded with him which he in turn pleaded with their national chairman to allow them operate.
He added; I was the person that even gave them money to pay for their nomination forms. I sponsored their campaigns because I thought I was dealing with people who will understand and then gradually perfect their documentation with their National or conduct a congress but unfortunately they are more interested in bringing down the roof, getting money at all cost and am not such a person”
On him allegedly not calling for Council meeting ; he said their code of conduct states that meeting should be called quarterly which they have done severally.
Igara congratulated the State government and Abians as the State marks her 30th birthday.
Members at the Press Conference include; the publicity secretary of IPAC, Hon Umah, Organizing Secretary Uzodinma Nwoko, the State Secretary, Tony Orji, among others.
