The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress in at least 12 states has not abated despite the conclusion of the party’s national convention and the charge by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for unity.
It was also gathered that the reconciliation committee headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who is now the chairman of the party, had yet to submit its full report as only an interim report had been handed over to the APC.
Magic FM had reported that there were 208 ongoing court cases in different parts of the country by aggrieved APC members. However, with many of the cases being concluded, some losers have now begun dumping the party, while others are now engaged in talks with the Peoples Democratic Party.
In Kwara State, it was gathered that members of the APC faction led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had removed the party’s flag from their secretariat. A visit to the factional secretariat on 26 Abdulrazaq Road, Flower Garden, GRA, Ilorin, revealed that members had deserted the building.
A member of the state House of Assembly representing the Ojomu/Balogun Constituency in the Offa Local Government Area, Saheed Popoola, who is a leading member of the Lai Mohammed faction, announced his defection to the Social Democratic Party on the floor of the Assembly last week.
The Publicity Secretary of the APC faction elected at the parallel congress organised by the group, Ibrahim Sharafadeen, disclosed this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.
“We have exited the APC officially, but we have not declared for any political party. Our leaders have not made any public declaration on which political party we are moving to. We will make it public very soon,” Sharafadeen stated.
Asked if the faction would move to the SDP, Sharafadeen said no, adding, “That was the sole decision of Popoola, who informed the Kwara State House of Assembly that he had defected from the APC.”
In Sokoto State where there is no APC chairman currently, it was learnt that the PDP had begun making moves to bring aggrieved members into its fold.
An APC chieftain in the state said, “Sokoto State is a peculiar matter. The party has no recognised leadership at the moment, because of the court case challenging the congresses. In fact, only statutory delegates from Sokoto, like former governors and others, were allowed to vote (during the national convention). Others, who emerged from the congresses, were barred.
“We are aware that the PDP is already trying to woo some of the APC members into its fold. And if this disagreement isn’t well managed, the APC may lose in Sokoto again.”
In Zamfara State, the faction led by Governor Bello Matawalle is the recognised one, but the factions led by Senator Kabiru Marafa and ex-governor Abul’Aziz Yari have refused to withdraw their cases from court.
The Mafara faction said it would not withdraw its pending cases before the courts despite the national convention conducted last Saturday. The spokesman for the faction, Bello Bakyasuwa, said the pending cases in various courts would be pursued to logical conclusion.
He said, “We are going ahead with the court cases. We have pending cases at various courts and we will not withdraw the cases, because we are still not convinced that we have been treated fairly.
“We are challenging the legality of Governor Matawalle’s factional chairman, Tukur Danfulani, and the remaining executive committee members, because they were not elected in a legal way.