There are strong indications that a full blown war which might tear the Etche chapter of the APC apart is being fought.
Not many are on the fence. Many are taking sides as the crisis escalates and the gladiators deploy their arsenals.
It is also clear that some elders and leaders of the party in the State are being sucked in by a conflict that is gradually blossoming.
The Telegraph can authoritatively confirm that two major camps, ready to fight to finish over growing differences, have emerged.
One camp, according to information that is coming to the surface is led by Hon. Ephraim Nwuzi, the newcomer who is being accused of trying to hijack the APC structure in Etche.
The acclaimed leader of the APC in the area, Barrister Reginald Ukwuoma is believed to be part of the Ephraim gang.
The other camp made up of leaders of the party in the area who have held the APC together has Chief Nnamdi Okere, a one-time council Chairman, Hon Charles Anyanwu, a former member of the State House of Assembly, Engineer Loveday Onwugbuta an influential politician and a host of other prominent players.
Hon. George Nwajoku, Chairman of the party in the area may be aligned with Chief Okere and most members of the Etche Caucus who say they are resisting attempts by Nwuzi to shift them aside through dangerous propaganda and schemes that are coming to light.
Efforts by young members of the party, which include Ward Chairmen and serving members of the local government executive do not appear to have succeeded in changing the situation on ground.
Rather, the level of animosity, emerging differences and growing schemes within the Etche chapter has increased.
Investigations conducted by the Telegraph indicate that Ephraim Nwuzi is claiming that Chief Nnamdi Okere, Hon Charles Anyanwu and one-time Spokesman of the APC, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke who has since left for the PDP have been working, right from the time he entered the APC, to destabilize him.
Nwuzi reportedly accused the three men before members of a peace building team which visited him recently.
He is quoted as saying that a surreptitious move has been made by Nwuke, Anyanwu and Okere to send infiltrators into his fold to monitor his activities and checkmate him.
Nwuzi has not to date disclosed the identity of the alleged infiltrators put on his trail.
Why Ephraim is linking Nwuke, a former member of the House of Representatives and one-time Spokesman of the APC, to developing problems within the party is not yet clear.
Old members of the party allege that the newcomer is busy creating sharp divisions within the APC. They say he is also dropping names in order to reap huge political capital.
Insiders within the party are shocked that the lawmaker is linking Nwuke who has ceased to be a member of the APC to current disagreements that evolving between him and APC leaders in the area.
We have heard that the Nwuzi camp is projecting the current member of the House of Representatives who worked with Governor Nyesom Wike while he belonged to the PDP as the only one with the swag, craft and art of winning elections.
While the struggle for supremacy goes on, there have been calls on the APC in Rivers State State to zone the House of Representatives ticket to Omuma.
Anyanwu said on Rythm 93.7 FM in Port Harcourt days ago that the time has come to give the Omuma people a chance to be represented in the Green Chamber.
This is what Anyanwu meant when he threw his weight behind Chief Nnamdi Okere, urging him as an eminent son of Etche to consider running for the Senate.
The latest call is generating a lot of interest in Etche and Omuma circles. Omuma has not been represented on the floor of the House of Representatives since Hon Georgeford Nwosu.
Ogbonna Nwuke, Jerome Eke now late and Ephraim Nwuzi all from the Etche Local Government Area have been elected to the Federal House.
Apparently, politicians in Omuma are seeing the reactionsm that are coming from inside the party as promising, timely and rational.
Although Anyanwu’s move is being seen as an isolated case of goodwill towards the Omuma people, there are strong suspicions in some quarters, particularly in the Ephraim camp that the call to cede the ticket to Omuma might be part of the cold war that is being fought.
Said an insider, “Ephraim is making a huge mistake. He is asking for a war when he should be building bridges. He ought to know that people labored to build the party in Etche with their sweat and blood.
” For him to act as if he sees no other person in the party would prove very disastrous. This man is playing the superman.”
Another insider noted, “We had thought that the lawmaker is a team player. We were wrong. We no longer have peace in our midst. We now hear he put up a similar attitude in the PDP before he was chased out. “
The peace effort embarked upon by young politicians, we understand, was stirred by concerns that the cold war that is raging within the rank and file is getting out of hand
The younger politicians fear that if the crisis is not nipped in the bud, the APC might fall apart in the area.
The war rages on in the meantime. There are no winners at this time. We have heard that after months of fighting the Local Government party Chairman, overtures are being made to him by the Ephraites.
The Telegraph reports that the situation is dicey. People are taking decisions by the day on what to do about the stake they hold.
What is being seen as Ephraim’s rash decision to fight those he found on ground in the APC may turn out to be an ill-wind that blows no good.
“To associate Nwuke with Okere and Anyanwu does not make any sense” a member of the party who spoke under ananimous conditions remarked., “To say they have planted spies in his camp is bewildering.”
“Ephraim is accusing party members who are not working with him, but who are working with established leaders of the party, of anti-party activity, it is the worst thing that he is doing”, a young member of the party added, “We want stability and peace too.”
The Telegraph would stay on the trail of this developing story and bring the details to its readers as events unfold.