The national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has been dragged before Federal High Court in Abuja over the conduct of ward and local government congresses of the party in Bauchi State.
The plaintiffs are Yakubu Dogara, the speaker, House of Representatives, Senator Sulaiman Nazif, Senator Isa Hammah Misau, Senator Muhammad Muhammad, Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, Ibrahim Zailan, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, Captain Mohammed Bala Jibrin, Aminu Tukur and Maryam Garba Bagel.
The defendants in the suit are APC National Chairman, Oyegun, Mallam Mai Bunu, National Secretary of APC, Dr. Tony Macfoy, state chairman of the party, and Mr. Sam Para.
Some of APC stakeholders, including Barrister Ibrahim Zailani, Captain Muhammad Bala JIbrin and Alhaji Muhammad Aminu Tukur, who stated this while interacting with reporters yesterday in Bauchi, claimed that the conduct of the congresses breached the party’s constitution and congress guidelines, alleging that the results of the ward and local government congresses in the state were manipulated.
They said they went to court because the purported APC Ward and Local Government Congresses conducted in the state on May 5 and 12, 2018, were marred by widespread irregularities from the initial preparations to the conduct of the congresses, thereby disenfranchising many aspirants and members of the party from participation.
They futher alleged that the Ward Congress was the foundation upon which the conduct of local and state congresses were predicated, which turned out to be a total fiasco.
The aggrieved APC stakeholders said they went to court to nullify the elections after efforts to follow all party machinery to get justice failed, noting that democracy and the rule of law were for the well being of the people.
Counsel to the aggrieved APC stalwarts, Barrister Isa Mohammed, said, “My clients were denied the opportunity to participate in the congresses because the forms were released to them on the day of the election, contrary to the guidelines of the ward congresses that give 24 hours for interested persons to fill the form and return it.
“The congress committee did not share forms until 2 p.m. on Saturday, the day of the election, so how could the participants fill and submit them that very day and take it to the electorate?
Mohammed noted that efforts to lodge complaint before the appeal committee set up by the national leadership of the party failed because the members of the appeal committee did not make themselves available, leaving them with no option than to go to court to seek justice.
