Taraba House Caucus Distances Selves from APC State Chairman’s Removal

* Accuses PDP of masterminding crisis

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Taraba State caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives has distanced itself from the controversial removal of the state APC’s Chairman, Hon. Ibrahim El-Sudi.

The caucus also vowed that the decision by the chairman of a faction of the state’s working committee would not stand.

Briefing journalists in Abuja, the spokesman of the caucus, Hon. Usman Shidi, accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the mastermind of the crisis.

Shidi noted that due process was not followed in the removal of El-Sudi as the action of few members of the committee was against Section 12 of the APC’s constitution.

He said: “On behalf of the leadership of the APC, Taraba State, APC’s federal lawmakers and other SEC members, we by this press conference dissociate ourselves from calls for the resignation and the purported removal of Hon. El-Sudi as the APC’s state chairman through a press conference held on February 3, 2023, by a skewed and self-serving section of the State Executive Committee (SEC) not properly constituted and without a quorum and consulting the state caucus created by Article 12.9 of the APC’s constitution.

“We jointly and severally wish to affirm our faithfulness to the APC’s constitution, which clearly stipulates procedure for leadership election and removal.

“We want the national leadership of our party and world to know that the perpetrators of this unholy idea are in deep romance and in fact sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party’s state government in Taraba to destabilise the APC.”

Also speaking, a member of the caucus who represents Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency, Hon. Hassan Bello Maigari, refuted the allegations against the sacked APC’s state chairman, adding that he wasn’t a delegate or returning officer in the primary election that produced the APC’s governorship candidate, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, and so, could not have been the reason for his sack by the Supreme Court last week.

He said: “We are concerned but we are not surprised because we know people are working against the interest of the party. They are the ones pushing all those things. It is well organised and executed by the PDP’s state government and their sponsors. They all know that every Taraban is aware of these events. They are all sponsored by the PDP. On what transpired three or four days ago, we are concerned but not surprised actually.

“Removing El-Sudi will not bring solutions. Let’s assume without conceding to what they have said, if you love a party, you cannot create problem at this material time.

“El-Sudi is neither a delegate nor returning officer. So, he has no impact in the forthcoming primaries and even the one that was carried out, which produced Senator Emmanuel Bwacha.

“So, for somebody to come out and say that El-Sudi is backing one candidate is just a mere allegation. Returning officers were sent from the national headquarters of the party.

“Our position is very simple. This decision by a faction of the SEC will not stand because we have 110 executive committee members.

“It was only 30 or so that signed this petition and Article 21 required two-third majority to remove the chairman even if he is found guilty and he cannot be removed without a fair hearing. Fair hearing is not only in APC’s constitution but also in the Nigerian constitution. So, it is not something that will stand.

“We just called this press conference to let the world know that this thing is sponsored by the PDP and those people in APC claiming they are APC members are PDP members in reality. They are people that we know. They have made many statements. One of them said he will never disgrace their son who served as state governor for two terms. They defeated him as a senator in PDP. This is a clear indication that he’s working for PDP and he has said it times without number that he will work for his governor who is a PDP candidate.”