By Ezeocha Nzeh
There are indications that the national headquarters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could face fresh crisis, following the inability of the National Working Committee to take final decision on the status of its directors who were placed on compulsory leave before they were replaced
This is even as it was gathered that while on compulsory, the directors, who were said to have continued to be paid their salaries, even on suspension, have been finally replaced
The new APC NWC, upon assumption of office after their election, issued a memo, which directed the five directors to proceed on indefinite suspension, while it promised to audit their performance under the last Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state
While the directors are currently on the forced leave, The AUTHORITY gathered reliably that the Abdulahi Adamu led NWC has replaced them with their cronies. The affected Directors were from the Directorates of Administration, Finance, Welfare, Media and Publicity, Planning, Research and Statistics and Organizing.
Inside party sources confirmed to our correspondent that while the National Secretary, Senator Iyinola Omisore replaced the former Administration Director, with his Special Adviser, Prof. Adedubura; the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, brought the Director of Welfare; Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Abubakar Kyari brought the Director of Finance, while his counterpart from the South brought the Director for Planning, Research and Statistics.
It was however gathered that two directorates that that have not been replaced are that of Publicity and Media as well as Organizing.
According to one of the former Director, they were asked to go on compulsory leave and not sacked. He said, “l am surprised when l heard that we have been replaced.”
A staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “what is the difference with the NWC members action and the Caretaker Committee. Each national leadership of the party that comes would want to sack the old staffers and bring in their own.
“Some staffers have remained as Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors for years without any promotion.
“Another annoying thing with the way the Working Committee do the employment is that they can’t even advertise it a little. The way they employ here is the way they encourage employment in the government. One cannot remember when last he or she heard that there was advert for employment going on some excerpt in the security outfits
“One would have expected that an NWC that came in and said the way some employments were carried out and the way the employee carried out their duties in the party were not the expected standard was going to adopt the best practices to employ their replacements
“We can’t be working here for a long time and people will come from outside to occupy the juicy positions in the party. If anything happens in the party tomorrow it is we it would affect the more because the so called employed Directors would leave.”
List of candidates: INEC lacks powers to delist Akpabio, says Campaign Organization
The Godswill Akpabio Campaign Organization has assured its supporters that the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, will finally make the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district
The campaign organization in a statement it issured at the weekend, described as “laughable” how people jubilated on social media over the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to publish his name as a senatorial candidate for the 2023 elections.
It would be recalled Akpabio had contested the All Progressives Congress, in the June 7 APC presidential primary, where he stepped down for the eventual winner, former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.
A few days after, the former minister went back to his Akwa Ibom North-West District to take part in a controversial APC senatorial primary re –run which he was announced as winner.
But INEC, which had earlier stated that it would not recognize the primary that returned Akpabio as APC candidate, released the full list of political party candidates for the 2023 general election at the weekend, with Akpabio’s name conspicuously missing
Also missing in the list was the names of senate president, Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) and Ebonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi, who also participated in the presidential primaries, but went back to claim victory in re rum state primaries
According to the statement issued, “The Senator Godswill Akpabio Senatorial Campaign Committee views as laughable the frenzy on the social media alleging that Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON, has been disqualified from the senatorial race of North West Senatorial District,”
The statement said the “jubilation” on social media showed that Mr Akpabio’s political opponents were intimidated by his senatorial ambition.
The statement noted that INEC’s decision on the matter is not final, adding that Akpabio has met all the electoral and constitutional requirements to contest the election as the APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West.
The campaign organisation described the removal of Mr Akpabio’s name from the INEC list as a “dubiously guided manipulation orchestrated by forces from the axis of evil”.
“The law clearly precludes INEC from rejecting names from parties which conduct its primaries in substantial compliance with guidelines.
“The matter on hand therefore shall soon be addressed in accordance with the law with assurance of (a) favourable outcome for Senator Akpabio,” the statement said.
