Crisis looms in APC as angry party chieftains head to court over re-registration exercise
- Another round of intra-party crisis is threatening to tear apart the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)
- Some party chieftains are said to be upset over the re-registration and revalidation exercise by the APC caretaker committee
- There are fears that lawsuits are been lined up to challenge the legality of the process and scuttle it
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A report by the Nigeran Tribune has detailed how some aggrieved chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are planning to scuttle the ongoing membership registration and validation exercise in all state chapters with lawsuits.
According to the report, rancorous contestation has trailed the exercise in many states, with many chieftains claiming it is a ploy to push them out of the party.
Most notable is the Kwara state chapter where the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has been crying foul over the alleged marginalisation of his loyalists in the exercise.
Beyond the state chapters’ crises, a bigger crisis tugging at the heart of the party and its future is already brewing.
Source: Twitter
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Two former national chairmen of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Chief Bisi Akande, as well as the national leader, Chief Bola Tinubu, have individually expressed strong reservations about the exercise.
In Osun, Lagos, and Edo states where the trio are the undisputed deciders, the exercise appears to be on a smooth run but findings showed that it was being conducted against the run of play.
It was further learnt that the choice of the leaders to slam the exercise in the course of their participation in it was a deliberate move to signal their supporters nationwide to participate in the protest.
It is believed that the leaders feel the registration/revalidation exercise was targeted against their continued relevance in the party and they have lined up a staccato of suits, to scuttle both the exercise and the congresses/national convention.
The multiple suits are to be filed by different individuals in and from different states with a gubernatorial aspirant in a southeast state expected to be a vocal litigant.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's former chief of army staff Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd) on Tuesday, February 16 officially defected to the APC.
Ihejirika was Nigeria's army chief between 2010 to 2014 under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former army chief announced his decision to join the APC at his Isuikwuato country home in Abia-North senatorial district in Abia state.
Recall that the Ebonyi state governor, Dave Umahi, recently declared that everyone in the southeast wants to join the APC
The governor made the comment on Wednesday, February 10 when he visited the APC secretariat in Abuja to meet with the caretaker committee chairman of the party and Yobe state governor, Mai Bala Buni.
Jerrywright Ukwu is an Abuja-based senior political/defence correspondent at Legit.ng. He is a graduate of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos and the International Institute of Journalism in Abuja. He is also a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists. He spends his leisure-time reading history books. He can be reached via email at jerrywright39@yahoo.com.
Source: Legit.ng
