•State Chairman, Hon. Abdullahi Bello
The Kogi State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress has rejected the names announced by the National Working Committee of the party as replacements for the former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party and the former Zonal Organising Secretary who resigned recently.
The Daily Crucible gathered that a former lawmaker, Duro Meseko, has been ratified as Deputy National Publicity Secretary while Ikani Shuaibu Okolo as Zonal Organising Secretary of the party by the APC NWC.
The two national positions are zoned to the Kogi chapter of the party.
But the State Chapter said that the positions were wrongly replaced with names that did not emanate from the Kogi APC, declaring that the actions of the NWC is a clear contravention of the party’s constitution.
In a press statement issued by the State APC Chairman, Hon. Abdullahi Bello, the party said that some known agents of distabilisation are behind the plot.
The statement noted that, “consequent upon the resignation of the two officers, the Kogi State All Progressives Congress under the leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello, met to ratify and forward names of replacements for the national and zonal officers that left the party”
Noting that the State Chapter ratified Hon. Yahaya Ade Ismail as the new Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Hon. Isiaka Musa as the Zonal Organising Secretary for North Central, the chairman said, in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution, it communicated the ratified replacements to the National Working Committee, through the North Central Zonal Chairman of the Party.
“To our dismay, the National Working Committee came up with strange names which didn’t pass through the State Chapter nor the North Central Zone of the party and purportedly went ahead to ratify them, citing “Presidency interest” as the rationale for their action.
“We strongly reject the action as we will not be parties to the blatant and flagrant violation of our party’s constitution.
“Our belief in Mr President as a man who respects the Constitution of our party and a man who believes in due process is unshaken in the face of the current confusion foisted on the party by people dropping the name of the President to achieve their selfish aims.
“We call on the National Working Committee of the Party to reverse the unconstitutional replacements done on our behalf without our ratification or approval, and revert to our ratified list as they occupy those offices on behalf of the State Chapter of our party.
“We have delivered Kogi State to the APC and the least we will expect is for the party hierarchy to continue to support us to achieve greater heights.
“The Kogi State Chapter of the APC therefore rejects the decision of the National Working Committee in its entirety and urge it to follow the constitution of our party and the due process our party is known for. We are confident that the interest of the party is for Kogi State to remain a stronghold of the APC, especially now that we march towards November 11 to retain the state”, the statement reads.
