By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Publicity Secretary of Anambra State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Okelo Madukaife, has been sacked by the party for congratulating Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the declared winner of the recent governorship election in the state.

Mr. Madukaife had congratulated the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) when he appeared on Arise TV’s afternoon programme, ‘Arise Interview’.

Madukaife assured that APC would be holding Soludo accountable in the most civil manner to ensure that he lives up to the promises made to Ndi Anambra.

However, Mr. Basil Ejidike, the state chairman of the party, in a press conference on Sunday, said Madukaife was suspended in June but continued to parade himself as the publicity secretary.

Ejidike said: “Okelo was suspended in June this year. We were surprised that he has continued to parade himself as the publicity secretary of the party. That ought not to be.

“On behalf of APC Anambra State, we wish to clearly state that Okelo Madukaife is no longer a member of our party and so he can’t be or function as the publicity secretary of our party in the state.

“Anybody dealing with him as a member of APC or publicity secretary of the party is doing so at their own risk.

“We wish to state categorically that as far as the Anambra governorship poll is concerned, we have not congratulated anybody.”

He added: “But we are aware that since June, he has been raining abuses on our party.

“Okelo was suspended since June following his involvement in anti-party activities. He has been replaced by assistant publicity secretary, Nonso Chinwuba. Okelo does not belong to the party.”

When contacted for comments, Madukaife said he remained the party’s publicity secretary in Anambra.

He said: “As I’m talking with you, I’m still doing my work very effectively, discharging my duties as the publicity secretary of the party in the state. So, I don’t know what you are talking about.

“Maybe I should see everything he said so that I reply once because our party cannot be sold to anybody. Our position that there were no governorship primaries in Anambra as stated by our chapter remains firm, fixed and unshakable. It’s the truth registered in the minds of all members of APC in the state.

“But I need to see what exactly Ejidike is saying before I can make one word. Ejidike is on his own. The whole chapter has discovered that he is a sellout who collected a lot of money to sell our primaries out.

“I don’t want to miss one word in what I’m replying to, that’s why I said I would want to see what exactly he said because we have been managing him for the sake of our own image.”