The Chairperson of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Lauretta Onochie, has dismissed her purported suspension by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in her ward.
Last week, Onochie was slammed with a suspension supposedly by the party’s leadership in Onicha-Olona Ward 4 under the Aniocha North Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State, citing alleged anti-party activities.
However, while addressing journalists on Wednesday, Onochie insisted the alleged suspension was initiated by “a total stranger” rather than her ward leaders, saying it therefore does not stand.
“I was not suspended. In fact, the name that was suspended was not [mine], because I know how to spell my name, so if I see my name I will clearly [know],” she said.
“And there’s no way a total stranger will come into your party, get party on the pretext of being paid some money to sign some papers and then they decide that they have suspended you without the knowledge of the leadership of the party in this town, without the knowledge of the elders council.”
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She described the APC in Onicha-Olona as “very structured”, saying “we know ourselves”.
Stating that the party has remained a family since it was formed, the APC stalwart argued that “a stranger cannot just come in from nowhere and then decide to suspend anyone”.
Similarly, the Chairman of the ward, Emmanuel Oweazim, denied the suspension, urging the general public to disregard the allegation.
“My first question was, ‘Who are those that signed that so-called suspension?’ I must tell you frankly that all the names they gave me, none of them is known to me as an APC leader,” he said.
“Again, we never heard of any anti-party activity by anybody anywhere in Ward 4, before, during, and after the elections.”
The rebuttal comes amid Onochie’s thank-you visit to her ward, saying it actively participating in the just-concluded general elections.
