The All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter on Sunday suspended a former Deputy National Secretary, Victor Giadom, for allegedly violating the party’s constitution.
Livingstone Wechie, media adviser to Acting Chairman Igo Aguma, said the suspension followed a report of a fact-finding committee.
He said: “The committee recommended that Victor Giadom be immediately suspended from the party and every party activity for his numerous infractions of the party constitution and conduct, which have brought the party into irredeemable disrepute.
“That Victor Giadom should immediately write a letter of apology to the party and same should be published in three national newspapers.
“The Committee report, which was presented to our state Executive Committee meeting, was accepted and adopted as the position of the APC in Rivers State.”
APC National Vice Chairman (Northeast), Salihu Mustapha, said Giadom did not resign but was given a waiver to contest the deputy governorship election last year.
He said the National Working Committee (NWC) gave Giadom a letter when he returned after the election.
But the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, faulted Mustapha’s claim.
He said: “These two letters are invalid. They are as useless as the paper they are written on because neither the Chairman nor the NWC has the power to grant a waiver on such issue.
“There is no such provision in our constitution. If the Chairman has given such a letter, it is irrelevant and invalid.”
Mustapha said Giadom was on September 14, 2018, granted a waiver in a letter signed by suspended National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole under Article 31 of the APC constitution.
Mustapha said the alleged move to replace Giadom with Mr Worgu Boms had no legal basis.
“I will not be a party to any injustice irrespective of who it’s meted on. The same way I didn’t support the ousting of the National Organising Secretary and the Publicity Secretary, I will not accept that of Mr Giadom.
“We are all colleagues; we should be more focused on reconciliation, not baseless witch hunts,” he said.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Sunday expressed optimism that the lingering APC crisis will soon end.
He said certain actions would be taken in a matter of days to ensure that the ruling party was not consumed by the crisis.
He spoke to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
Lawan,who also lamented the worsening security problem in some parts of the country, explained that he visited the President out his conviction that the APC imbroglio , should not be allowed to “degenerate”.
He said solving the many problems of the APC required strict adherence to its constitution.
He said: “I had the opportunity to talk to my leader, the President, about the challenges in the APC. I believe that we need to deal with the challenges. This is the ruling party of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the President, in control of the National Assembly, with more governors than any other political party.
“The situation must not be allowed to degenerate than it has and I believe that we must go into the Constitution of our party and see how we are can address them. We must not allow the situation to continue as it is today because the stability of APC is the stability of Nigeria. This is the party running the affairs of this country.
“I believe that we have to sort the problems out. That will make our work even better and easier when we have a stable party. Our party is supposed to be part of the apparatus of running government.
“We are supposed to run or operate or implement or execute the manifesto of the party. The party is key; it is central and essential to ensuring that government, whether on the Executive or the Legislative side, continues to face those issues in our manifesto.
“I had the opportunity to discuss that with Mr President, who is the leader of the party and by the grace of God, in a few days, we will see certain actions that will be taken.
“I’m praying that all our leaders across the country will make every possible effort to get the party reconciled.”
On the security situation in the country, the Senate President said it was the opinion of the Senate and the National Assembly that more resources were needed by the armed forces and paramilitary organisations to stem the tide.
Lawan said the National Assembly would be positively disposed to receiving a supplementary budget for enhanced funding of security agencies.
He called on the service chiefs and heads of security outfits to sit up and deliver on their mandate.
”Don’t forget that we provided for N500 billion worth of intervention for COVID-19 campaign in the revised budget and various agencies.”