From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A fresh crisis seems to brewing over the disputed All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries for the Anambra governorship election, with the APC Appeal Committee upholding the outcome of the poll that produced Senator Andy Uba as the party flagbearer.
Although the National Secretary APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Sen John James Akpanudoedehe, claimed ignorance of the content of the committee’s report, he, however, reminded the aggrieved aspirants protesting the outcome that the party leadership still remains the supreme deciding factor to determine who becomes the candidate of the party for the Anambra poll.
Speaking while receiving the Appeal Committee report at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Monday, he said that the final decision will be guided by the report and recommendations submitted by the Appeal Committee.
A source close to the Appeal Committee told Daily Sun in confidence that the committee did not only uphold the outcome of the primaries but also recommended that the party leadership use the presidency to pacify the aggrieved aspirants.
‘I can confirm to you that the Appeal Committee has upheld the outcome of the primaries conducted in Anambra that produced Sen Andy Uba despite the protests from other aggrieved aspirants,’ the source said.
‘However, aware of the backlash it will produce, the Committee and the party leadership seem to have resolved to use the presidency to pacify and appeal to the aggrieved aspirants with the conviction that many of them will not object to the intervention from the presidency.’
Preempting the Committee report, one of the aspirants told Daily Sun in confidence that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him to accept the report or intervention from the presidency.
‘Yes, the Appeal Committee actually invited us where we table our grievances, informing that no primary held in Anambra, but it will be very unfortunate if in their wisdom they still went ahead to uphold the outcome of that charade called primaries.
‘As for using the presidency to pacify us, I would rather wait for the final decision of the party’s national leadership because the intervention of the presidency cannot stop me from seeking redress,’ he threatened.
Speaking while receiving the report, Akpanudoedehe, said: ‘I stand on behalf of the party chairman to thank you immensely for the rapidity, expediency and urgency that you gave to this assignment. Thank you very much. We are a progressive party and progressive parties are very straightforward and we are honest in our dealings.
‘I want to assure you that the Caretaker Committee Chairman and the Caretaker will look critically with objectivity to this report. Even though, I don’t know what is contained in this (report), at the end of the day, the party supremacy and the party direction will be guided by what you have done,” he said.
Speaking on the sideline after submitting the report, the Committee Chairman and governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, revealed that all the aspirants and stakeholders appeared before the committee.
According to him: ‘As I promised, we did justice to the assignment. We heard their complaints. We went through the petitions and we have written our report based on the materials that we got that could help us to prepare our recommendations.
‘And that we wish. I will wish that you wait for the report from the National Caretaker Committee because for now, all the documents are with them. But we believed justice has been done.
‘Virtually all the aggrieved aspirants attend the meeting. We surmounted all of them. It was not only the contestants. Even senior stakeholders from the South East particularly from Anambra State.
‘We went to execute an assignment and anything that you bring is not a challenge to me as far as I am concerned. It is a working document and I did well with it,’ he said.
The Gombe governor had while submitting the report said: “Let me seize the opportunity to thank you very much and the members of the National Caretaker Committee for deeming us fit and worthy of handling this assignment.
‘Considering the urgency with which we needed to work, immediately this Committee was sworn in, I believe you can recall, we did our inaugural meeting in this very hall and consequent to that we extended the meeting through the weekend; Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
‘That was just for us to make sure we beat the time and we did justice to the assignment. We thank God that we are able to get to all the contestants and principal stockholders of Anambra State. We thrashed the issues and advise the party accordingly.
‘The summary of all our undertakings is what we have here as our report, plus some of the documents that we are able to get from the members, in terms of either petitions or recommendations or advice,’ he said.