BillyGraham Abel Yola

It appears that Adamawa APC cracks as faction of the party under the Buhari/Osinbajo Again group, have staged a protest to demand for the cancellation of the just concluded ward congresses in Adamawa State.

The group, which marched to the office of INEC and the state secretariat of APC, in the state capital, said congresses did not hold in the state and what went on was a ‘kangaroo congress’ which is inconsistent with the internal democratic culture that APC has come to be known for.

The group, which was led by Usman Ibrahim, said they were at the appeal committee to submit letters and video evidences that proved congresses were not held all over the 226 wards in the state and to state their position that they reject in totality the said conducted congresses in the state.

Usman Ibrahim said, “The state congress committee on arriving the state went ahead to do everything without consulting other stakeholder in the party.

Usman faulted the state congress committee’s actions saying they refused to grant audience to key stakeholders of the party including a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, two serving senators, Abdulazeez Nyako and Ahmed Moallayidi, the leader of Buhari/Osinbajo Again, Markus Gundiri, Nuhu Ribadu, among other key stakeholders until late Friday.

The group maintained that the action compelled them shift the ward congress to May 6.

He said, “The congress committee had asked all aspirants to submit their nomination forms at the congress venue but the committee members failed show up to collect the forms and the group have initiated steps to collect forms from all aspirants who have been wise franchised from the process.

He condemned the actions of the congress committee saying, “They failed to act according to the party’s guidelines and had only interacted with only one side of the party.”

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He decried that as at Tuesday no official declaration of results has been made.

Usman said, “We demand for a total cancellation of the congresses since it was stage managed and we also demand for the setting up of date for credible elective congresses in the state.

“We also demand that this bias committee should be disbanded and the next scheduled congresses of 12th and 19th May, 2018 should be suspended.”

The chairman of the Appeal Committee, Nuraddeen Abetimi, commended the group for the peaceful conduct in which they present their grievances and assures them of justice and fairness.

He said, “I will call it as I see it and I appeal to you to maintain utmost restraint in lodging your complaints.”

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Shettima Gaidam, while responding to the groups submission said, “The doors of INEC are always opened to parties in the event of conflict.

Gaidam laments that INEC as an unbiased umpire has its work complicated when politicians fail to play by the rules.

He called on politicians to respect their party guidelines and the nations constitutions and INEC will continue to adhere by its guidelines to ensure that all stakeholders have a level playing field.