Lagos APC Pushes for Ratification of Banire’s Suspension by NWC

Segun James

Hundred of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Thursday gathered at the state secretariat of the party to demand for the ratification of the suspension of the party’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, which was carried out in July last year, saying he did not only engages in political rascality, but also a dissident.

The party faithful in a letter to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, lamented that the refusal of the national leadership to ratify the suspension of Banire has embolden him in his antiparty activities.

According to the petition signed by the Legal Adviser of the party in Mushin, Lagos, Mr. Femi Martins, “such recalcitrant and political rascality (as displayed by Banire) undermines the democratic process, and parties at all levels must continue to strive to ensure decorum from its members, hence the protest of party faithful against Banire which resulted in his suspension, and was an exercise directed at saving the soul of the party and not a political vendetta.”

They insisted that the suspension should be carried out immediately by the Oyegun’s National Working Committee (NWC) before it leaves office in order to lay a foundation for party discipline.

They said because political parties are organised collection of people from diverse ethnic, cultural and socio-economic trappings and backgrounds who are voluntarily but deliberately united by common ideological objectives, there is the need to maintain discipline within the fold.

The party members insisted that “in the absence of discipline, members of the party would run amok as a result of the inevitable clash of all manner of centrifugal and centripetal force,” hence they want Banire to be used as example in this regard.

“We therefore demand the national leadership of the party to act in furtherance of the suspension at the local level by completing the process to serve as deterrent to other dissidents alike,” the stated.

They described the activities of Banire as constituting grievous danger to the electoral fortunes of the party, adding that the confirmation of his suspension will “curb his continuous embarrassment of the party in the media and social platforms at his disposal.

“It should be noted that the recalcitrant member has further grown wings, committing worse atrocities against the same party that gave him semblance of relevance in the polity.

“His activities constitute grievous danger to the electoral fortunes of the party. The remaining days of the NWC of the party should be written in gold by completing the process of Banire’s suspension to lay a foundation for party discipline.”

Receiving the petition on behalf of the state Chairman of the party, Mr. Tunde Balogun, the state Vice Chairman of Lagos West, Chief Funsho Ologunde, promised to ensure that the letter reaches the national leadership of the party immediately.