From: Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
The State Working Committee (SWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Enugu State chapter, has passed a vote of confidence in the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.
This followed the call by embattled factional Chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, for President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Onyeama, who he claimed had performed abysmally low in office.
But the SWC of the party, on Monday, at a press conference addressed by another factional chairman, Mr. Adolphus C. Ude, distanced the party from the call by Nwoye, saying that “those calling for sack of foreign affairs minister are political fugitives with deformed minds.”
The SWC maintained said that Nwoye and some members of the party who took the illegal decision were on their own.
“We wish to state that the APC in Enugu State neither took such decision nor asked Nwoye who is no longer in office to address a press conference on its behalf after his suspension for diversion of party funds and anti-party activities.
“The party celebrates President Muhammadu Buhari and his entire cabinet for the numerous achievements this government has made.
“For the records, in 2015 the image of Nigeria internationally was in a deplorable state with very high records of institutionalized corruption and impunity. The foreign affairs minister took conscious steps to change that perception and within a very short period he restored the country to its pride of place among the comity of nations.
The party organ noted that today the foreign affairs ministry headed by Onyeama has removed the country from the previous shocking levels of impunity, arrogance of power and corruption that have dented Nigeria’s image before the coming of the APC administration.
“In 2015, foreign investors were fleeing the country because the national economy which after rebasing was rated the largest in Africa had suffered serious damage and was almost prostrate. However, through strategic efforts and alliances forged for Nigeria by the foreign affairs minister, Foreign Direct Investors are beginning to return to the country with renewed faith in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which is a three-year plan designed to reflate and redirect the economy on the path of growth. This has resulted in massive foreign capital investment in the country.
“The economy has started responding to the initiatives to re-attract foreign investors into the country inspired by the minister as evidenced in the recent announcement by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that the country has officially come out of recession,” the SWC pointed out.
They reminded those calling for the minister’s sack that he had, under the instruction of President Buhari mobilised other African leaders, to force erstwhile President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia to relinquish power in Gambia.
They also argued that under Onyeama, the country and President Buhari have enjoyed massive international goodwill and support as could be seen in the volume of high-tech defence equipment the US and other super powers have agreed to make available to the country at little or no cost.
The continued, “As we speak, the foreign affairs minister is busy with ensuring that Nigeria appends its national signature to the anti-nuclear weapon treaty.
“Hence, we make bold to say that Enugu APC is proud of the foreign affairs minister and his legacies which we hope will be immortalized in the anal of Nigerian history,” they said.
They, therefore, said that the call by the factional chairman of the party for “the sack of the minister on the basis that he underperformed at the recently concluded UNGA is laughable as Nigerians and even the opposition party applauded him and the president for making the country proud. Such sack call can only come from an agent of destabilization.”