By Anayo Okoli

Umuahia— THE leadership of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in Abia State  has alerted its members of the circulation of fake party membership cards in the state, and warned both the old and new members to ensure that they were issued with genuine cards.

According to the state chairman of the party, Mr. Morgan Anyalechi, only the memberships cards signed by Chief Victor Umeh and Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, were the authentic ones.

Meanwhile, APGA has maintained that Governor Theodore Orji still remained its member as of now, saying he had not resigned from the party.

Addressing a stakeholders meeting of the party, drawn from the 17 Local Governments councils of the state, Anyalechi reminded them of the impending registration exercise soon to be embarked on by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC,  and urged them to ensure that they actively participated in the exercise to enable them exercise their franchise next year.

Anyalechi also used the opportunity to clear the air that there was no faction in Abia APGA, insisting that the party had only one state leadership which he is the chairman.

He urged new members joining the party to follow laid down procedure by first resigning from their old party, tender letter of resignation to the party and get registered.

“INEC will soon commence voters registration, please you must register and encourage your people who are eligible to register too. You should not waste time when they begin because they may not have much time.

“On our party membership, there is a proliferation of APGA cards. There are fake cards being circulated. The only authentic one is the one signed by Chief Victor Umeh, either as Acting National Chairman or as substantive chairman and countersigned by Alhaji Shinkafi, the National Secretary. Any other card is a nullity.

“If there are no cards available, go on and register new members as cards will soon be supplied. Before any election, the leadership will be visiting the wards and councils to inspect the cards and ensure that they were sealed.
“On the current issue in the state, as of now, Governor Theodore Orji is still a member of APGA,” the chairman explained.