The bid to replace National and Zonal Officers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who resigned from their roles, has resulted into a crisis between the state chapter of the party and the National Working Committee.
ebirareporters.com reports that the Kogi APC in consonance with Governor Yahaya Bello, had forwarded names of replacements the vacant positions.
The party in the state forwarded Yahaya Ade Ismail and Isiaka Musa for Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Zonal Organizing Secretary respectively.
However, the candidates of the state have been dumped, as the NWC on Wednesday announced Duro Meseko and Ikani Shaibu Okolo.
The development has been described by the Kogi State Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Bello as a violation of the party’s constitution.
“To our dismay, the National Working Committee came up with strange names which didn’t pass through the State Chapter nor the North Central Zone of the party and purportedly went ahead to ratify them, citing “Presidency interest” as the rationale for their action. We strongly reject the action as we will not be parties to the blatant and flagrant violation of our party’s constitution.
“Our belief in Mr President as a man who respects the Constitution of our party and a man who believes in due process is unshaken in the face of the current confusion foisted on the party by people dropping the name of the President to achieve their selfish aims.
“We call on the National Working Committee of the Party to reverse the unconstitutional replacements done on our behalf without our ratification or approval, and revert to our ratified list as they occupy those offices on behalf of the State Chapter of our party. We have delivered Kogi State to the APC and the least we will expect is for the party hierarchy to continue to support us to achieve greater heights.
“The Kogi State Chapter of the APC therefore rejects the decision of the National Working Committee in its entirety and urge it to follow the constitution of our party and the due process our party is known for. We are confident that the interest of the party is for Kogi State to remain a stronghold of the APC, especially now that we march towards November 11 to retain the state,” he said.
