APC Tenure Elongation: Plaintiff Urges NEC to Abide by Buhari’s Advice
- Court fixes April 16 to hear suit
Alex Enumah in Abuja
Plaintiff in the tenure elongation case against the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Wale Ahmed, wednesday hailed the position of President Muhammadu Buhari for his objection to the illegal tenure extension, stressing that he has laid a good example of leadership.
He described the president as a courageous and forthright leader who will never endorse the violation of the 1999 Constitution and the APC constitution by the party leadership.
Ahmed, a former House of Assembly member and commissioner in Lagos State, recalled that party members were taken aback by the decision to illegally extend the tenure of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Working Committee (NWC) on February 27.
The aggrieved chieftain said the decision rattled many chieftains who protested the move to exclude them from the intra-party leadership elections which the congresses and the national convention can only guarantee in accordance with the laid down extant laws.
Ahmed applauded President Buhari, who he described as a performing leader, adding that he also has interest in serving the party as a willing compatriot and ally in the business of good governance.
He said the president has not failed the nation, judging by his achievements in revatalising the critical sectors of the economy in the last three years.
Ahmed said the onus is on the NEC and NWC to heed the advice of President Buhari by putting in motion the machinery for the conduct of the congresses at the wards, local governments and states, and the national convention at the national level.
He said: “I congratulate the president for being unequivocal, courageous and forthright in addressing the issue of tenure elongation. How can a party known as the All Progressives Congress (APC) refuse to hold congresses? The decision makes a lie of the very existence of our party.â€
The former legislator said the party leadership might escalate the controversy and crisis over the tenure extension, if it refused to quickly retrace its steps and release the timetable for the congresses and the national convention.
He added: “One extra day for the executive committee by whatever nomenclature to truncate the procedures for congresses and convention, either through the setting up of an acting or caretaker committee, will not stand. There is simply no ground for it, both in the party constitution and the 1999 Constitution.
“The APC of all parties should not even be seen to be taking any illegal step, in whatever guise, at circumventing the constitution and jeopardising internal democracy.â€
Ahmed who was silent on whether he would withdraw the case against the party, said he looks forward to the correction of the mistake already made by the NEC on February 27 by heeding the directive of the president.
He said: “I am waiting to see how the NEC will handle the controversy after the intervention of the president, and what argument it would canvass against the constitution on the contentious issues raised by the president, who has issued a fatherly directive as the leader of the party.â€
Meanwhile,when the matter came up before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja wednesday, he adjourned till April 16, 2018 for commencement of hearing on a suit.
The adjournment is to enable parties in the suit to file all their processes before the adjourned dated of April 16.
Aggrieved members of the APC led by Ademorin Aliu Kioye had filed the suit after the party at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting last month, extended the tenure of NWC by one year.
They had on March 15, 2018 secured an ex-parte order directing the defendants to show cause why members of the NWC of the APC should not be barred from parading themselves as national officers of the party.
Respondents in the suit include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, National Chairman of APC, Oyegun and the National Organising Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso.
