JOHN ADAMS MINNA
With less than 30 days to the general elections, a major crisis has hit the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State following the suspension of one of the elders and zonal leaders of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Magaji.
Abubakar Magaji, a member of Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party in the state was among the founding fathers of the party after he led the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to form APC.
The suspension of the Magaji who is widely tipped to deliver Niger South senatorial district to the ruling party in the forthcoming elections, was contained in a press statement by the party’s secretary, Alhaji Mohammed A. Liman, in Minna on Thursday.
Magaji was accused of making a ‘derogatory statement’ against the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who is the leader of the party during a meeting chaired by the governor on January 14.
The party in the statement, described the outburst of the elder as not only embarrassing to the governor, but “has brought him to hatred, contempt, ridicule and disrepute.”
The party said the suspension of the onetime national vice chairman (North Central) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was in line with Article 21(A) (ii) of the party’s constitution (2014) as amended.
The state working committee of the party has therefore set up a 5-man committee to investigate the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions.
All attempts to get the reaction of the embattled party elder could not yield any result as all his mobile phones were switched off as at the time of filing this report.
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