The leadership crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has degenerated to the suspension of Kuje Caretaker Committee chairman of the party by 10 ward leaders after a meeting where a vote of no confidence was passed on the party executive.
The suspension of the Kuje party chairman, Hon. Godwin Zabesna, was a fallout of lingering rift in the party which came into the open during the APC congress that was contested in Kuje by five aspirants.
Although, the state executive of the APC has approved reconciliation panel set up by the local branch to mediate in the dispute, five petitions have been despatched to the national executive of the party requesting the cancellation of the results of the primary elections.
Tempers allegedly flared up when the suspended caretaker committee chairman, who was the Kuje chairman of the party, refused to convene a meeting as demanded by ward leaders to discuss the affairs of the party before the congress.
Speaking to Blueprint on the latest development, Godwin Zabesna said the ward chairmen have no constitutional backing to suspend him from office.
“I am still the chairman of the APC in Kuje Area Council and whatever the ward leaders may have done is null and void.
“We have a constitution and the letters of that document must be followed to remove a serving executive member. It is wrong to suspend anyone through the media without due process and I insist that due process was not followed in my purported suspension.”
Former Chairman of Kuje Area Council and leader of the APC in Kuje, Alhaji Abdullahi Danladi Galadima also faulted the alleged suspension and insisted that the meeting where the decision was taken was illegal and a nullity.
“One or two people cannot just meet and suspend a party chairman for frivolous reasons. Who were the ward chairmen at the meeting? It was the acclaimed flag-bearer of the APC who organised the meeting with hand-picked members and issued the statement of the chairman’s alleged suspension.
“Many of us who contested the primaries with him have petitioned the national executive because of the injustice that was done during the election and we want the results overturned in the interest of peace and the unity of the party,” Galadima said.
Other area councils of the FCT are presently boiling as part of the fallouts of the primaries and political observers have speculated that except the party unites before the February 2022 FCT Chairmanship elections, ÀPC would find it difficult to retain the four out of six area councils it presently controls.
