Crisis Hits APC Congresses in Lagos, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Niger, Enugu, Kwara, Others

Crisis Hits APC Congresses in Lagos, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Niger, Enugu, Kwara, Others

•Scores injured as gunmen attack congress venues in Ogun, Osun
•Sanwo-Olu, Ambode, Akpabio, Udoedehe’s loyalists hold parallel congresses •Keyamo, Ogboru, Okorocha, Ararume boycott exercise in Delta, Imo

Our Correspondents

The state congresses held across the country yesterday by the All Progressives Congress (APC) were characterised by crisis and formation of parallel state executives of the party in several states, THISDAY has learnt.

Some of the affected states include Lagos, Ogun, Enugu, Kwara, Imo, Sokoto, Kano, Niger, Osun, Delta, Abia, and Rivers.

In Ogun State, gunmen numbering about 10 invaded the Ake Palace Ground, Abeokuta, the state capital, which was the venue of the State Congress of a faction of the party loyal to the former governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

Though, the Chairman of the Congress Committee, Hon. Wale Ohu, had warned that only the result of the Congress held at the MKO Abiola Stadium would be recognised, a faction loyal to Amosun, organised a parallel exercise at the palace.

The Ministers of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite; the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Tolu Odebiyi and the governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, (APM) in the 2019 election in the state, Adekunle Akinlade were among the dignitaries that fled for their dear lives, when the gunmen struck.
The trio however escaped unhurt but many others were unlucky as they sustained different degrees of injuries.

Several vehicles parked in front of the Palace were destroyed.
It was, however, gathered that supporters of the faction later regrouped and held the congress.
In Akwa Ibom State, the loyalists of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio conducted their congress at the Kara Event Centre along Stadium Road, while the Senator Akpan John Udoedehe-led group elected its officials at Sheer Grace Centre, Uyo the state capital.

Speaking during the congress held at Kara Event Centre, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, said, however, that the different congresses were working for the interest of the party.

Akpabio, in his remarks, called on the party faithful not to look at the disagreement among the leaders of the party, assuring that such disagreements would be settled at a roundtable.
In Kwara State, the faction loyal to the state governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has unanimously affirmed the former chairman of PDP and now a chieftain of APC, Chief Sunday Fagbemi as its state chairman of the party.

The loyalists of Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, re-elected Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa as its factional state chairman.

The APC in Osun State also held parallel congresses in the state.
Two members of the party were shot by thugs believed to be loyal to one of the factions.
A faction of the APC, The Osun Progressives (TOP), which is loyal to the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, held a parallel congress at Ogo Oluwa, Osogbo, while the Ileri Oluwa faction backed by Governor Gboyega Oyetola, also held another state Congress at the stadium.

Hoodlums were said to have invaded the TOP factional congress with about eight vehicles and started shooting from the main road.
But operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel.

However, the gunmen shot two members of the APC, Adedolapo Atobatele and Ismail Akinyede.
The state chairman, the National Congress Committee of the party, Mr. Gbenga Elegbeleye, supervised the congress conducted by the Oyetola faction.

The Ilerioluwa Group held its congress at the Osogbo City Stadium, where Mr. Gboyega Famodun was re-elected as the state Chairman of the party.

Alhaji Tajudeen Lawal was elected the Deputy Chairman, while Mr. Alao Olabisi was elected the Secretary.
In his remarks, Oyetola commended the congress committee for conducting a transparent and successful exercise.

Meanwhile, members of TOP, at their parallel congress held at Onward area in Osogbo, elected the immediate past Secretary of the party, Alhaji Rasaq Salinsile, as its new Chairman.
Also, a former Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, was elected the Secretary of the party.

In Lagos State, the APC held three parallel congresses across the state.
At the main congress of the APC held at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Ground, Onikan which witnessed the presence of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi emerged as the consensus chairman of the APC in the state.

The congress saw 35 other executive members elected through voice votes.
The election was conducted by the Chairman of Lagos APC Congress Committee, Mr. Bayo Adelabu.
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by Sheu AbdulWahab were on the ground to monitor the election.
Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, who was on the ground for the congress, said he was not aware of any other congress in the state.

According to him, other congresses were “mere naming ceremonies.”
While thanking the national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, the governor said: “Asiwaju has called me twice while the congress is ongoing and I told him all is well.
“You can see that females are well represented, almost outstripping the number of men. The team comprises men of timber and calibre. I hope the team will take Lagos to a higher level,” he said.

At the Baptist Academy premises, loyalists of the immediate former governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, under the aegis of Akinwunmi Ambode Campaign Organisation (AMCO), conducted their exercise with a former Chairman of the Mushin Local Government Area, Mrs. Beatrice Omotayo Tugbobo, emerging as the state APC chairman.

Speaking to journalists, Tugbobo, who admitted that there were factions in Lagos APC, asserted that the exercise by her faction was being conducted in line with the party’s constitution, which she said stipulated that the congress could be held by consensus arrangement or election.
“According to the constitution of APC, you can conduct your congresses whether by consensus or by voting and the agreement from the National Headquarters of APC constitutionally is that we hold our congresses in a consensus manner.

“Other factions can be holding their congresses elsewhere, yet we are holding our own here, which is AMCO, the group belonging to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode,” she said.
Also, the Lagos4Lagos group produced its consensus candidates at a congress held at the Airport Hotel in Ikeja.
Also, the congress held in Abia State produced two chairmen as each of the rival camps conducted its congress.

Mr. Enyinnaya Harbour was elected Chairman in the congress supervised by the seven-man State Congress Committee for Abia headed by Hon. Kolawole Babatunde, with Hon. Muktar Bajeh as Secretary.

The congress was held at the sprawling Chidiebere Motors Arena, Umuahia with two INEC representatives from the Abuja headquarters and Abia State office, present to observe the exercise.

The State Congress by loyalists of Chief Ikechi Emenike was organised at the Indoor Sports Hall of Umuahia Township Stadium.
In Imo State, the immediate past governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, and the Board Chairman of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, were absent as the APC led by the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, conducted its state congress.

At the congress held in Owerri, the state capital, Uzodimma’s aide and long-time loyalist, Macdonald Ebere emerged as the state chairman.
Ebere succeeded Marcon Nlemigbo who was in interim capacity shortly after Uzodimma took over power.

But Okorocha, through his media aide, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said he was not aware APC held any congress in the state.
“We are not aware that there was APC congress in Imo State. What they did today was a birthday party. As long as we are concerned, Dan Nwafor is the authentic chairman of APC in Imo State.
“There is an APC court judgment to that effect. It has not been vacated. You don’t put something on nothing and expect it to stand.”

Also amid protests by many party chieftains, who have called on the national leadership to cancel the state congress and previous congresses, the Senator Ovie Omo-Agege faction of the party in Delta State held a congress and announced a 35-man executive body to oversee the affairs of the state chapter of the party.
A former political aide to ex-governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Mr. Omeni Sobotie, emerged chairman of the new executive committee.

The exercise was conducted at the College of Education, Asaba premises by a seven-man Delta State APC Congress Committee, led by its Chairman, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, with officials of the INEC present as observers.

The factional congress was witnessed by the Deputy Senate President, Omo-Agege; Senate Committee Chairman on Niger Delta, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, founding leader of the party in the state, O’tega Emerhor, among others.

But in a swift reaction, the Delta State APC Leaders Council and the State Working Committee members have distanced themselves from what they described as a “Kangaroo State Congress organised by Deputy Senate President, Senator Omo-Agege and his cohorts.

The APC leaders stated this in a statement issued yesterday and jointly signed by its 19 members, including the Minister of State for Labour and Employment and Chairman of the Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN); Co-Chairman, Dr. Alex Ideh; the Secretary of the Council, Hon. Cairo Ojougboh; and 2019 APC governorship candidate in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru, among others.

The council insisted that the national leadership of the party should correct the wrongs and anomalies in the Delta State chapter of the party by ensuring the execution of the recommendations of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led reconciliation committee, which had been submitted and accepted by the Mai Mala Buni-led caretaker committee.
The APC leaders vowed that it would continue to uphold the sanctity of the party’s change mantra.

The Niger State chapter of the party also split into two yesterday.
One of the factions of the party held its congress at a building along Bay Clinic Hospital road in Minna where Alhaji Nasiru Yussuf emerged as the chairman of the group.
They were denied the use of the Abdulsalami Abubakar Youth Centre.
The second congress attended by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello; his commissioners; and the three senators in the state, threw up a former Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Haliru Zakari Jikantoro as chairman of the group.

However, it was observed that the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, and the member representing Chanchaga Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago was absent at the congress held at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi Centre.
In Enugu State, the loyalists of a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, and former governor, Sullivan Chime in Enugu State, elected a former commissioner in the state, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah as the chairman of the party in the state.

At the congress supervised by the congress committee led by its chairman, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, Agballah defeated a former military governor of Gombe State, Group Captain Joe Orji (rtd), and Chief Paul Omeje to clinch the position.
Both Nnamani and Chime were said to have thrown their weight behind Orji, but more than 95 per cent of the delegates queued behind Agballah.

However, the faction led by the former Chairman of the party in the state, Mr. Ben Nwoye also held a parallel congress at the state party secretariat.
In Kano State, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has declared that only the congress held at Sani Abacha Stadium was legal.

Prince Abdullahi Abbas, who is the immediate-past caretaker chairman of the party in the state was elected as the chairman of the party.
In Sokoto State, the former acting governor and member representing Illela/ Gwadabawa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Dr. Balarabe Salame has rejected the outcome of the congress.

Salame told THISDAY that there was no congress in the state.
Salame, who is of the same faction with the Speaker of Sokoto State House Assembly and other state Assembly members had planned to hold a parallel congress at DanMarna Primary School before his faction was told by the national headquarters of the APC to wait for amicable settlement of the issues.

But unknown to them, new executives emerged from the congress held by the other faction, led by the leader of the party in the state, Senator Aliyu Wamakko.
In his acceptance speech, the re-elected chairman of the party in the state, Isa Sadiq Acida, promised to return the party to power in the state.
In Rivers State, the loyalists of a former Senator representing Rivers East, Senator Magnus Abe, shunned the exercise conducted by the loyalists of the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.

Mr. Emeka Beke emerged as the Chairman of Rivers State APC, according to the results announced by the Chairman, Rivers APC Congress Screening Committee, Dr. Abubakar Idris.
However, a member of the party, Golden Chioma, who made a last-minute pullout from the chairmanship race, described the exercise and the results as a nullity, citing “faulty process”.

APC Suspends Oyo Congress

Meanwhile, the party has postponed its state congress in Oyo State.
THISDAY learnt that the congress was shifted following a directive from the national secretariat of the party.
Members of the party and journalists who had thronged the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium), Ibadan, venue of the congress earlier fixed for yesterday were surprised to learn about the postponement.

The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Dr. Abdulazeez Olatunde, who confirmed the postponement, said the postponement was necessary in order to harmonise the list of candidates for the positions.
“It has been postponed. It was postponed to allow us harmonise the list,” he added.

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