The crack in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) widened yesterday.
Two top members accused National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu of rendering the administrative organ of the ruling party redundant.
Salihu Lukman (National Vice-Chairman, Northwest) and Isaacs Kekemeke (National Vice-Chairman, Southwest) warned that Adamu’s actions were capable of causing the APC incalculable damage.
Yesterday, the ruling party concluded the screening of the 23 presidential aspirants.
They accused him of high-handedness, breaching the APC constitution and dropping President Muhammadu Buhari’s name to blackmail the NWC members each time he wanted to have his way on issues.
In a joint statement tittle titled “APC and the need for vigilance: an urgent call for intervention.”
The duo also accused the national chairman of unilaterally taking decisions without consultation and approval of the committee as required by the APC constitution.
Their statement partly reads: “We are compelled to make this statement following serial postponement of the scheduled National Working Committee (NWC) meetings, twice within 48 hours.
“ We are convinced beyond doubt that this is a deliberate attempt to foist a fait accompli on the NWC on fundamental issues that affect our great party.
“Within just two months in the lifespan of the new leadership of our great party, APC, led by His Excellency, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the NWC, organ of the party vested with the power of managing the day-to-day affairs, including implementing decisions of the National Executive Committee (NEC), as provided in Article 13.4 of the APC Constitution, has been rendered redundant.
“The national chairman takes decisions unilaterally. When it suits him, he invokes the name of our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, to blackmail NWC members into accepting his decisions.
“Every effort to get the chairman to respect the authority of the NWC as elected by March 26, 2022, APC national convention is proving very difficult, if not impossible. Note that NEC’s donation of its powers was to NWC and not to the national chairman or any individual.”
They defended their action, saying they were worried by what they termed the continued breach of the party’s constitution.
Lukman and Kekemeke added: “The national chairman must be properly reminded to recognise that the business of managing the day-to-day affairs of the party is the responsibility of the NWC as provided in provisions of the APC Constitution.
“He is free to consult any party leader(s). Such consultations will not represent decisions of the NWC or any organ of the party unless and until it is adopted by a properly constituted meeting of the NWC or organ in question according to the letters and spirit of the APC constitution.
”As a party, we have suffered enough judicial embarrassments arising from clearly avoidable leadership breach of our party’s constitution and spelt out rules.
“As members of the NWC who have the mandate of our members, we hereby serve notice to His Excellency, Abdullahi Adamu, and through him to all APC leaders that henceforth, any decision taken by the national chairman or any other party functionary, which requires the approval of the NWC as enshrined in the APC constitution, will be considered as illegitimate and an infringement on the jurisdictional scope of the NWC, unless otherwise confirmed as validly approved decisions of the NWC or any other legitimate organ of the party.
”No NWC member was elected at the March 26, 2022, National Convention to warm seats or offices in the national secretariat. We, therefore, call on all our colleagues in the NWC to rise to these challenging situations by joining hands with us to save our great party and return it to its founding mission of moving Nigeria forward based on an honest, fair, just and selfless commitment to party building.”
