A Zonal meeting being planned by All Progressives Congress (APC) National Vice Chairman (Northeast) Mustapha Salihu is about to create chaos.
Leaders of the party in the region are worried over an alleged hidden agenda against the party’s National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and Acting National Secretary Waziri Bulama.
Some stakeholders have threatened to boycott the meeting.
But Salihu told newsmen in a telephone chat that cannot reveal the agenda of the meeting on the pages of newspapers.
Mustapha, who spearheaded a campaign that almost ousts Oshiomhole as APC chair a few months ago, had also challenged the APC National Chairman on the choice of Bulama as the Acting National Secretary.
His protest actually delayed the inauguration of Bulama by the National Working Committee (NWC) on May 18.
In a notice of the meeting, Mustapha said the session will hold “in line with Article 12.6 of the APC Constitution.”
He said it is going to be the first quarter meeting of the zone.
Expected at the meeting scheduled for Saturday are:
All APC state chairmen in the zone; past and present governors and deputy governors within the zone; all members of the national caucus, Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee (NEC) from the zone; all serving and past members of the National Assembly and all serving and past speakers and deputy speakers of the State Houses of Assembly, among others.
A leader said: “We are suspecting a hidden motive behind the meeting. We are yet to know the agenda of the meeting up till now. The Northeast vice chairman is the only leader privy to what we are going to discuss, According to The Nation
“Initially, Mustapha wanted a physical meeting to hold in Bauchi State, we raised concerns about Coronavirus. He later shifted the meeting to Gombe. He is even uncoordinated.
“Now, he is talking of a virtual meeting when he is aware that the Northeast has been ravaged by the insurgents and Internet access is difficult in the zone.”
A member of the House of Representatives said:
“The meeting is suspect because we heard of a plot to use the session to pass a vote of no confidence on the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole. With Edo State election around the corner, there is a fresh gang up against Oshiomhole by some governors and Mustapha has been leading the anti-Oshiomhole campaign.
“Also, we know Mustapha does not want the acting National Secretary of the party, Waziri Bulama, because the former Acting National Secretary, Mr Victor Giadom is his ally in the anti-Oshiomhole’s struggle. He cannot use the meeting to scuttle the appointment of Bulama.”
A senator from Borno said:
“Mustapha is a joker. He has not notified the leaders of the zone of the meeting except what we read in the newspapers. We know he is partisan and we do not trust his decision to convene this meeting at this time.
“Most of our state leaders have no access to the internet. You need to live in the North-East to know what we are going through in respect of communication access.
“And with the adoption of the Zoom model, he alone can decide those to admit into the meeting and those to deny access.
“I will only caution him against personal agenda because it will backfire.”
When contacted, Salihu said he cannot pre-empt the agenda of the meeting.
The national vice chairman (Northeast said:
“Agenda are set during the caucus meeting now. I cannot set agenda suo moto. Asked if the meeting was convened because of the Acting National Secretary, he said:
“I cannot dignify the question with a response. The recent trend of running the party on the pages of newspapers and twitter handle are not my way. I am old school.
“It (the National Secretary issue) is a private party matter. It will be discussed at the party level. They are not those things I will come and discuss on the pages of newspapers.
“I cannot tell you the agenda because parties are not run on the pages of newspapers or televisions, I run party administratively.
Concerning the fears that most APC leaders in the zone may not have access to the Internet, he added “From the advert you saw, virtually all the delegates have access to the Internet. They are chairmen of the party, former governors, former Speakers of the House of Assembly.
Responding to insinuations that the meeting was designed to also pass a vote of no confidence on Oshiomhole, he added: “When we get there, they will see what is done and when they see what is done, they can now talk.
On the threat to boycott the meeting by some stakeholders, Mustapha said he was not aware.
“There is nobody… I am not aware of anybody seeking to boycott or who is against the meeting because this meeting was called in consultation with all the leaders.
“All the leaders of the zone were consulted on the time and the venue. They have been carried along from the beginning till date. I am not aware of anybody disagreeing or showing signs of a boycott because the meeting is long overdue.
“This is a constitutional matter because are supposed to meet every quarter and we have not met in the first quarter because of Coronavirus. This is the meeting of the first quarter that we are doing. That of the second quarter will come before the end of the second quarter. We should not over-labour this matter.”
