All may not be well with the Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as it has been alleged that the National Vice-Chairman of the party in the South-East, EmmaEneukwu, slapped the party’s governorship candidate in the state, Barr. Okey Ezea, following an argument over which part of Enugu State should fill the state’s ministerial slot in the incoming Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

The incident is reported to have happened on Thursday during a closed-door meeting of South-East APC caucus at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja chaired by Governor Rochas Okorocha, and attended by Senators Chris Ngige, Osita Izunaso, General J. O. J. Okoloagu (retd.) amongst others.

The Enugu governorship candidate made what transpired at the meeting public in a text message he forwarded to journalists in Enugu on Friday.
He revealed through the SMS that Eneukwu slapped him because he (Ezea) told the South-East leaders in the meeting which presumably discussed the sharing of key appointments in the forthcoming government that Nsukka zone, where he hailed from, should produce the minister.

Ezea accused the APC National Vice Chairman, who is from Udi in Enugu West Senatorial Zone, of wanting the ministerial slot for himself and trying to actualise the ambition through violence.

The text message reads, “Emma Eneukwu slapped me today because I told South-East leaders that Nsukka has not been minister since 1999.

“He did this before Rochas, Ngige, Izunaso, J. O. J, Gen. Eze, Ucha etc.

“I just said the truth and requested justice and equity in the affairs of our party and Enugu State.

“Emma (Eneukwu) wants to be minister by violence. Emma is from Udi Local Government Area which has been producing minister since 2007, including the incumbent, Chinedu Nebo.”

But when contacted, Eneukwu denied slapping Ezea, adding that such incident never took place.

According to him, “I am surprised about that, nothing like that happened, I am very surprised.

“That story is alien to me; I don’t know anything about it.

“Maybe it is a calculated attempt to mar my image. I didn’t attack anybody, I am not a thug. I don’t fight,” he said.

On what transpired at the said meeting, he explained, “We went to see Buhari, that was all I knew. “Nobody was talking about appointment.
“We will not be talking about appointment when the party has not decided on the positions that should come to the zone. We have not known the positions allocated to the zone,” Eneukwu said.