BillyGraham Abel, Yola
Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Adamawa State, have petitioned the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, seeking the suspension of both the state chairman of the party, Ibrahim Bilal and the 21 local governments chairpersons of the party, over the what they described as ‘unconstitutional’ endorsement of the incumbent governor against two other aspirants of the party.
The angry stakeholders were three gubernatorial aspirants on the platform of the party, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Senator representing Adamawa South in the National Assembly and two former senators.
The stakeholders said the action ofmthe party chairman was contrary to the party’s constitutions and is already causing disaffection within the members of the party in the state.
The group made the demand in a petition dated September 17, 2018 and made available to Daily Sun.
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The stakeholders, led by a former SGF, Babachir Lawal, a serving senator, Ahmed Abubakar MoAllahyidi, two gubernatorial aspirants, the pioneer EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu, Buhari’s in-law, Mahmood Halilu, former senators Abubakar Girei, Bello Tukur, APC stalwart, Sadique Muhammed, endorsed the petition calling for expulsion of the state party leaders.
The petitioners read, “Your Excellency sir, we are compelled to petition you on the recent activities of the Adamawa State Party Executives and the 21 Local Government Party Chairmen which occurred on the 15th September, 2018 in Yola during the public declaration of intention to contest for the state’s gubernatorial seat by the incumbent Governor, Umar Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow, where the State Party Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Bilal, with his executives and one Mr. Babangida Talasse, the representative of the Local Government APC Chairmen, publicly came out to endorse one aspirant, the incumbent Governor Jibrilla Mohammed Bindow.
“They did not only endorsed him, they proceeded to inform the public that he is already the winner and there are no other aspirants to be considered in Adamawa State.
“This singular action has since tampered with the process of internal democracy of our Party in Adamawa State where there is supposed to be presumption of equality and fairness for all members.”
The petition, made available to Daily Sun further demanded that, “…The above action is contrary to the expectation of fairness and neutrality from the State Executives and this is a clear violation of section 21 (A) (xi) of our Party Constitution where it stated that “In cases of alteration of delegate lists, falsification of nomination results, and OR TAMPERING WITH THE PROCESSES OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY OF THE PARTY, the offender shall be liable to expulsion from the Party and be prosecuted.
“We have three gubernatorial aspirants that have purchased and submitted their forms, none of them was screened out by the Party, and yet the state excos have made up their mind that they can only consider one aspirant, this is contrary to the principles of natural justice and fairness as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“There is no way these sets of State EXCOs and the Local Government counterparts will accord other aspirants a level playing field in the coming primaries elections in Adamawa State.”
The group maintained, “That the National Working Committee (NWC) should immediately investigate this gross misconduct as it is already causing disaffection among our members in the State, pitching one member against another due to lack of internal democracy in the Party in the State through the actions of a very biased State EXCOs and Local Government Party Chairmen.
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“That the National Working Committee (NWC) after establishing the clear violation of the principle of neutrality as enshrined in our constitution and the existence of tampering with the process of internal democracy of the Party as enshrined in Section 21(A)(xi), that the NWC will hand out the necessary sanctions which may includes immediate suspension or/and expulsion.
“That the NWC should consider vetoing the State’s EXCO choice of mode of primary elections in Adamawa State in the form of “Indirect Primary Election” since they cannot provide level-playing field nor fairness to the exercise.
“That the NWC shall ensure these current Adamawa EXCOs and Local Government Party Chairmen are not allowed to conduct, organize, superintend the coming primary elections in Adamawa State for fairness, just and equitable conduct of a credible election that will stand the test of time anywhere whether in Law Courts or in Court of Public opinion the petition stated.”
Reacting to the call for suspension of the state party executives, the pioneer National Vice Chairman, North East of APC, Umar Duhu, has called for local government and state’s chapter of the party to commence proceedings for the immediate suspension of the former SGF, Babachir Lawal, over what he described as ‘anti-party’ stance against the interest of the party.
Umar said Babachir has publicly said he would not support the state governor who is the leader of the party in the state, a position which he insists is contrary to the interests of the party and should warn the former SGF an expulsion from the party.
Duhu said, “Babachir has committed offence that is strong enough to evict him from the party when he said he would only support Buhari and work against the state governor.
“BD Lawal has no moral integrity moral ground to criticise anyone or anything. He was relieved of his duties in his office as a corrupt politician and he should be hiding in shame and not going about making public comments.
Duhu explained that Governor Bindow has moved Adamawa State forward and has wiped off the shame of underdevelopment that has trailed the state for a very long time and that the governor deserves another term so as to focus the energy of his progressive governance to other sectors of the state.