In what looks like a haze of agnosticism for many, leadership tussle has engulfed the Bauchi Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on the heel of the election of party officials in the state scheduled for July 31, 2021; WikkiTimes can exclusively report.
The crux of the scrimmage as this medium learnt, originated from a purported ‘paper’ which was said to be issued from the National body of the party which the current Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Uba Ahmed Nana distributed to the various formations of the party defining ‘party stakeholders’ across the board.
The purported paper, termed “Abuja Paper” excluded some big names of some card-carrying members of the party from the list of what the party’s constitution approved and recognised as the stakeholders of the party from the ward level up to the state.
Notable among those whose names were excluded from the list of the party stakeholders is the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon Abubakar Sulaiman, party pundits told WikkiTimes.
The speaker “was controversially relieved of his position as the chairman of the stakeholders of the APC in Ningi local government, because he was seen to be too loyal to Governor Bala Mohammed of the APC”, Hon. Salisu Zakari Ningi told WikkiTimes.
Hon Salisu Zakari Ningi, a former Member of the House of Representatives of the 8th Assembly told WikkiTimes that it was a big surprise to many of the party stakeholders “that a number 3 politician could be sidelined in this important exercise.”
Ningi said it was illogical for the APC in Bauchi state to sideline Mr Suleiman “on the basis that he’s obedient to a PDP governor. I remember the genesis of my fight with former Governor MA Abubakar was that I was too obedient to Yakubu Dogara when he was the speaker. “You don’t expect Abubakar Suleiman to be sabotaging a government that he’s a big stakeholder in; just because of party differences, this isn’t logical at all”, Ningi argued.
“Why must you say that the speaker must be challenging the governor just because they are not under the same political platform”, Ningi queried.
He said one of the misfortunes that affected the APC in 2019 was “a collaborative mediocrity between the former governor MA Abubakar and Uba Nana where the duos were accused of handpicking candidates of their choices without recourse to due process and the voices of the members of the party.”
“Those of us from the PDP back then were denied being stakeholders of the party. Professor Dan Wanka who was a Commissioner of Education at that time was made to be our chairman from Ningi. And, I went to his office on several occasions for meetings”, Ningi added.
Ningi alleged that “Uba Nana’s antics in the APC is just to facilitate his stay as the party Chairman in the state.”
WikkiTimes learned that the stakeholders of the APC are by the provisions of the party’s constitution responsible for deciding who becomes what in the party across all levels through ‘consensus.’
The medium gathered that the Uba Nana led APC in Bauchi State equally disseminated a contested directive from the party’s National Caretaking Committee conveying a waiver granted to the ex-officious of the party at all levels.
The waiver, according to Hon Mahmoud Musa, a former Deputy Chairman of Ningi local government, granted automatic re-election to the ex-officials of the party.
“The waiver directed them to go back to their wards and declare themselves as reelected leaders of the party.”
Hon Musa who doubted the genuineness of the “Abuja paper”, said its contents were misleading “and do not represent the interest of members of the party.”
Hon. Musa said that the appearance of the paper is as a result of the “gross greed of the State Chairman of the party to continue be the chairman of the APC in Bauchi state against the wishes and yearnings of the teeming faithful members of the party in the state.”
He explained that it was “the reckless handling of the party’s affairs by Uba Nana at the instructions of the former governor Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar that make the party lost the governorship election in Bauchi State in 2019.”
WikkiTimes’ repeated calls and text messages sent to Mr Uba Nana to respond to the allegations were neither answered nor returned as at press time.
However, in a swift reaction to his removal as party stakeholder in Bauchi State, Abubakar Y Suleiman has appealed for calm among his supporters.
Suleiman in a statement through his spokesperson, Abdul Ahmad Burra said his “purported removal as Chairman of the Stakeholders of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ningi Local Government by the Alhaji Uba Nana led Caretaker Committee”, was in violation of the party’s constitution.
The statement added that the Speaker as a loyal party member, he will “never allow violation of the Constitution of the party and divisive actions that will bring misfortune and crisis to the party by some born-to-rule elements.”
The statement says, “Since his emergence as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the number 3 citizen in the State, he has been occupying the position of the Chairman of Stakeholders. “However, just of a sudden the Local Government Party Chairman called and told him that he has received an instruction from the State Party Secretariat that he has been replaced by Hon. Abdullahi Sa’ad Abdulkadir (Baba Iyali) as Chairman of the Ningi Local Government APC Stakeholders.”
The Speaker was quoted as saying that: “I remain the Chairman of Ningi APC Stakeholders, majority of the Critical Stakeholders recognise by the Party Constitution are with me and have already rejected my purported removal.
“The Stakeholders are the ones responsible for appointing their Chairman and I am enjoying the full support of virtually all of them except very few.
“We will conduct the ward congresses and other congresses in conformity with the party’s Constitution and the Guidelines of the congresses”, he said.
