…PDP tries to take advantage of situation, Oshiohmole, NGF react
Chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress, (R-APC) Buba Galadima, has stated the determination to sustain it’s split from the mainstream APC.
R-APC lawmakers investigation reveals are trying to exploit constitutional provisions on a division to sustain their seats in the federal and state assemblies.
They want to invoke Sections 68(1) (109(1)) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that; “A member of the Senate or House of Representatives (House of Assembly) shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if- “(g) Being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that house was elected: “Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member, or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”
This was coming even after the mainstream APC had denied split in the party, which took place on Wednesday, July 4, 2018, when some aggrieved members unveiled the R-APC and revealed its new national executive.
R-APC claimed it was allegedly marginalized by the leadership of ruling the party.
The leadership of APC denied the existence of a faction, while the R-APC blamed the ruling party for the crisis.
Galadima said the members were compelled to move out because the APC had derailed from its original plans and vision.
Adding that the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) teamed up with other forces who make up the R-APC.
When it dawned on the APC that there was a split, it issued a statement stating: “On Wednesday, July 4, 2018, a group of individuals announced itself as ‘Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC)’ at a press conference held in Abuja. By their actions, this group has attempted to create the impression that our party is fictionalized. This is not true.
“The APC wishes to affirm that there is no faction in our party and declares the action by these individuals as mischievous and ill-advised.
“Having failed to scuttle the National Convention as was their original plan, they now resort to this subterfuge as a way of achieving the pre-determined end of causing confusion.
“As a matter of fact, we doubt that these individuals parading as leaders of the so-called faction are actual members of our party. We are currently investigating their true membership status within the party.”
“While we shall continue to monitor developments in this respect; we will not hesitate to take lawful actions to defend the unity of our party and protect the sanctity of its identity.
‘’We are currently reviewing the action of this so-called faction in order to determine if any aspect of the party’s constitution has been breached with the connivance of any of our members. “For those members who have genuine grievances, we want to assure them of the commitment of the new leadership of the party to address those grievances as quickly as possible in a manner that ensures that justice is done to all.”
However, despite beseech by Adams Oshiohmole, the Reformed members have refused to return back to the fold.
Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the immediate past governor of Kano State, has even left the country, while his spokesperson, Hajia Binta Spikin, maintained it was too late for further talks with the APC.
The image maker said APC has failed in its campaign promises, including selling petrol at N45 per litre, and would not fulfil any fresh promise arising from negotiations.
Adding: “The party has had its so called-convention, it has deviated from the original intentions why it was brought to being, so there is nothing that remains with the mainstream APC.
“I don’t know about the promises Comrade Oshiomhole keeps making. He keeps promising he will do this, he would do that, but it’s just promises like the promises the APC gave in the run-up to the 2015 general election. ‘’Remember APC promised that petrol would be sold at N45 per litre; it has not fulfilled those promises, so what makes this promise different from all the other promises”? he queried
And for the National Publicity Secretary of the R-APC, Prince Kassim Afegbua, “That convention has a constitutional flaw, so they are the ones that should be coming to us for peace.”
Consequently, Comrade Oshiomhole yesterday had the closed-door meeting with the party caucus in the House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, led the legislators to the caucus meeting, where he noted: “Our only expectation is the issue of justice, and justice is indivisible. What is justice to the executive should be justice to the legislature and it should be justice to the judiciary. “What is justice to the President and the Vice President should be justice to the Governor, and it has to be justice for the members of the National Assembly because you can’t divide justice.
Once you begin to divide justice, you don’t have justice. “Once we are able to get these things in their proper perspectives to some extent, we will be able to silence the voices of dissent within the party. We have problems in the party, but we mustn’t allow our problems to define us rather we should define our problems as a party.”
The APC National Chairman at the meeting said: “every person matters in our party because all party members voluntarily moved from various political platforms, and dissolved those platforms in order to give birth to the All Progressives Congress.”
“The idea of delivering the greater good for the greater number of Nigerian citizens was what binds us APC together and defines us in spite of the teething problems, we were bound to experience that every new organization goes through.”
After meeting with the President at the Villa yesterday, Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), Abdulaziz Yari expressed worry stating: “Our coming as APC governors have nothing to do with the APC. It is about the issues of finances and I think at that level, the party is in the best position to answer this question. “Though I am one of the pillars of APC, if I comment on that, I won’t be fair to the leadership of the party.
So, it is the party that will handle that. “Of course, I am worried but it is something the party will handle. You know with the approach of the election, you will expect this kind of thing. You will expect crisis left, right and center, especially in a party with an overwhelming majority because of political interest. The most important thing is that with the emergence of new leadership, everything will be resolved”.
Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) yesterday also met with two members of the R-APC in the National Assembly.
Senator Sulieman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna North and Rep. Musa Soba, APC, Kaduna met with the delegation of PDP officials in Abuja.
After the meeting, Hunkuyi revealed: “The PDP members that visited me today are my kith and kin because no story of the party will be complete in Kaduna State without my name featuring prominently at one point or the other. The political arena as we know guarantees freedom of participation, association and very shortly we will come up with a position on the direction of our polity, to correct the anomalies in the state.
“The crisis in the APC is nothing new. Everyone is aware of it, and what happened yesterday signifies the climax of the crisis in the party. We discussed a lot of things and it is not an understatement to say that we are all unhappy with the situation in the state. We discussed how to seek a solution to the challenges in the state. We will stand firm and strong in finding solutions to the challenges.”
While Soba, said: “They are our brothers and sisters from the Northern Senatorial District of Kaduna State. They are PDP party executive members from Kaduna State that came to seek our support to salvage our state. They want us to join hands with them to do what is right for our people regardless of party affiliation. You know we are politicians, it is either you woo me or I woo you.”
The Legal Adviser to the Kaduna PDP, Mr. Musa Kabir reiterated that their meeting with Hunkuyi and the other lawmakers would yield a positive result, adding: “We came to see the lawmaker because of his hard work. He was with us and now we want him to come back so that we can work together to salvage Kaduna State. We came to plead with him to team up with us to revive the PDP and from our discussion, we are hopeful that he will give us a positive response.”