2023: Our hope lies with APC, RMAFC boss tells Igbos

Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Chief Elias Mbam, has urged people from the Southeast, especially those from Ebonyi state to join the ruling All Progressives Congress because their hope lies with the party.

Mbam who spoke on Friday at Mgbo-Agbaja in Nwofe community, Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi, after revalidating his membership of the party, said the interest of the zone is better achieved under the APC.

“We should desire to belong to the party at the centre because that’s where our hope lies and I want to urge our people to come and register with the ‘moving train’ to achieve our destiny as a people,’’ Mbam said.

“I want to appeal to Ebonyi people to join the APC by coming out en masse to register and revalidate their membership; the hope and future of Ebonyi is in the party,’’ he added.

The APC chieftain also faulted claims by some party members that the ongoing party membership registration and revalidation was illegal and unconstitutional, and said that such members were merely expressing their opinion.

He said: “We are in a political season and APC enshrined freedom of speech in its constitution, hence those holding the view that the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise of our party is illegal are merely expressing this freedom.

“They are only expressing their view and that is not the view of our party and this view does not in any way confirm illegality. I don’t think the exercise is illegal; it is the decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) which is the highest body of the party and as such, it is binding on all members.

He appealed to the leadership of the party to make available more registration materials to enable the large number of intending members coming to register to do so.

Mbam, also reacting to the current clamour for the party to zone its presidential ticket to the South-East geopolitical zone noted that such a decision could only be taken by the APC.

“The party decides where or which zone gets the presidential slot; the party decides what it wants, it’s not given and the party will decide those that will fly its flag.