Sagay: I never called for APC congress cancellation

Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday denied calling for the cancellation of All Progress Congress (APC) ward congress in Imo State held on May 5.

A national newspaper (not The Nation) quoted Sagay in a May 19 report as saying that the cancellation became necessary due to the unreliability of the congress outcome as well as the crisis that greeted the exercise.

Sagay was quoted as saying: “The election has to be repeated. They should cancel it and repeat it; what was done is not reliable in view of what has happened.”

But, in a statement yesterday, Sagay said he never spoke to any reporter on the issue, describing the report as “fake”.

He said: “The above interview is fake. It never happened. I have always willingly responded to requests for my views, on virtually any subject matter issue by members of the press.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no excuse for a reporter to cook up a story and ascribe it to me as my views during an interview.

“My so-called ‘call for the cancellation of APC ward congress’ was fake, fraudulent and dishonest. No reporter contacted me on the matter and I could not have responded to a non-existent interview.”