The APC National Vice Chairman for North East, Comrade Mustapha Salihu, on Tuesday said Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is not fit to be called the National Chairman, following his suspension by the party’s chapter in Edo state.
Comrade Salihu, while briefing journalists today after a contentious meeting of the APC National Working Committee (NWC), said the decision to adopt Arch. Waziri Bulama as the party’s National Secretary was a nullity.
He accused Oshiomhole of name-dropping by saying that President Muhammadu Buhari had endorsed the candidacy of Bulama.
He said the APC national chairman should have allowed the North East geo-political zone to conclude the ongoing process to get a new National Secretary from either Yobe or Borno State.
Salihu said, “I am here just to give you a brief of what transpired just now; the illegality that just transpired now. This has been prevalent in this party since Adams Oshiomhole took over. There is never a time for official meetings. You are forming electoral committees a night before elections. That was the reason why we have all the problems we have during the general elections.
“The party was moved from the National Secretariat to Aso Drive. This illegality has continued. We have been taking this for too long because we have followed advice from our elders. But the illegality knows no bound. The man will dream of an agenda and come and pass it.
“Yesterday (Monday), I held my zonal meeting and we agreed on how to go about the position of National Secretary. Behold, today Adams Oshiomhole ordained someone from somewhere and said he’s going to be the National Secretary.
“I want to tell you that this is an illegality because of two things. Number one, this party has set precedence. Babachir Lawal left, I replaced him from Adamawa state. Lai Mohammed left, Bolaji Abdullahi replaced him from Kwara. Bolaji left. Lanre Issa-Onilu replaced him from Kwara state….
“But this is not to say there is no room for consensus. There is serious discussion going on between Borno and Yobe for them to be able to harmonize and come up with a Secretary. We had a meeting yesterday and agreed that the two states should go and meet.
“I spoke with Borno Governor this morning (Tuesday morning) that I will be in Borno on Friday and consult with them and proceed to Yobe and by Monday will come up with a name. I am not the type of person that will sit and watch illegality. NEC positions are like ministerial positions and are shared across the states.
“As we speak, Borno has a NEC position, who is now Acting Auditor, who is presently occupying his substantive position as Deputy National Auditor, while the only National Working Committee member Yobe has is National Secretary. If there is need for them to cede to Borno, there must be consultation. The person who is duly elected at the convention must resign voluntarily and cede his own seat to Yobe so that Yobe will not be annihilated in elected NEC position. That is what I canvassed.
“But the Chairman as usual wants to perpetuate his illegality, just the way he did in Zamfara, in other states where we lost. He is still trying to go ahead and said he has adopted Bulama as National Secretary which is nullity because it didn’t follow the constitutional procedure.
“What he told us was that it was the President that mentioned Bulama name. But I know it is not true. The President is not known to do unconstitutional things. But he keeps dropping name each time he wants to do illegality. But this time around, we are going to resist it.”
He added, “I have seen a subsisting court order somewhere, where that has been gotten from the party in Edo. They followed the procedure of suspension from his ward, local government, state and his suspension was announced and court upheld it.
“As I am standing here, I have not seen any court that is vacating that subsisting court order. So, I am not recognizing him as National Chairman. He doesn’t have the right to call for any meeting. Finally, the party organs that are allowed to do this kind of assignment are normally Executive organs.
“Where are the resolutions from all these executive positions that necessitated National Working Committee to take decisions. That is how we said we have suspended Amosun. We don’t have right to suspend anybody. It is only the executive arms that have right to suspend – all these we did ab initio was a nullity.
“We also want to follow up with the suspension of the National Chairman, to know the status, whether or not, as we speak, he is fit to be a National Chairman or whether that court order is still subsisting which before the end of today, I will let you know. I will find out if there is any court order that vacates it.
“If there is no court that vacates it, I will produce the subsisting court order for you for publication and will write to INEC, the DSS, he should not be recognized as the National Chairman.”
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