Kogi APC Condemns NWC’s Unilateral Appointment of National, Zonal Officers

The Kogi Chapter of the APC has expressed its strong disagreement with the individuals chosen by the Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to fill the positions left vacant by the former Deputy National Publicity Secretary and the former Zonal Organising Secretary, both of whom recently resigned.

In a statement released by the State APC Chairman, Abdullahi Bello, in Lokoja on Thursday, it was asserted that the appointments were made inappropriately, as the designated individuals were not sourced from the state chapter.

“We want to make it clear that we distance ourselves from the approved replacements, as the NWC’s actions directly violate the party’s constitution,” the statement affirmed.

Following the resignation of the two officials, the Kogi APC, led by Governor Yahaya Bello, convened to officially endorse and recommend new candidates for the positions at the national and zonal levels that had become vacant.

“We want to emphasize that the unfortunate occurrence, in which unauthorized alterations were made, seems to be orchestrated by certain individuals with a history of causing disruptions.”

The statement continued to explain that the state chapter had officially ratified Yahaya Ade Ismail as the incoming Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Isiaka Musa as the newly appointed Zonal Organising Secretary for the North Central region.

“Abiding by the stipulations outlined in the party’s constitution, we communicated these approved replacements to the NWC through the North Central Zonal Chairman of our party.”

“But 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.

“Of course, we strongly reject the action as we will not be parties to the blatant and flagrant violation of our party’s constitution,” the chairman said.

Bello added that they believed in the 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.”

He then urged the APC NWC 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.”

According to him, they have delivered Kogi to the APC and the least they will expect is for the party hierarchy to continue to support them to achieve greater heights.

“It’s in this light that the Kogi chapter of the APC strongly rejects the decision of the NWC 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 to remain a stronghold of the APC, especially now that we march toward the Nov. 11 governorship election to retain the state, ” he declared.