By Correspondent in Minna
The embattled chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), in Niger state, Engr.Mohammed Jibril Imam says the party is on a fast slide into extinction, due to the way authentic members of the party were being treated with disdain by the Governor, Abubarkar Sani Bello.
Imam while addressing a news conference in Minna on Sunday, expressed worry that Governor Bello was fueling the crisis rocking the APC in the state by locking out people who toiled for the sustenance and growth of the party.
He said instead, “outsiders” were being recognised and made to reap the fruits of what the founding members of the party had laboured for.
The engineer, who described himself as the ‘authentic chairman of the APC in Niger state’, lamented that he and other original party faithful had been relegated to the background for speaking the truth against injustices championed by the Governor against ‘perceived enemies’.
Expressing fear of imminent collapse of APC in Niger state due to what he claimed was the way the party was being handled by the state Governor and his lieutenants, Imam called on the party’s National Secretariat to call Governor Bello and his cohorts to order “before it is too late.”
Imam,who advised the National Committee to comply with the December 8, 2020 NEC resolution and swore him and other congress elected officials as the Caretaker Committee of the party in the state, warned of imminent danger for the party, if the illegalities were allowed to continue.
“I am calling on the National Secretariat of our great party to hold Governor Bello responsible for imminent killing of the APC in Niger state”, Imam said.
He noted that instead of resolving the crisis engulfing the party, Bello had continued to appoint non-party members into key positions in the state while those who suffered for the party wete being left out.
The embattled Imam who insisted that he remained the authentic APC Chairman in the state, described as ‘illegal’ the inauguration of one, Aliyu Saidu Galkogo,by those who are desperately trying hijacked the party from genuine APC members in Niger state.
He urged the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) to reverse illegal inauguration of Saidu Galkogo as the state caretaker chairman in Niger state saying that all efforts made to seek redress from the national secretariat of the party failed to yield desired results.
Imam,who noted that the problems bedeviling APC in Niger state were more of constitutional breaches, vowed to continue the fight against the use of “unconstitutional means to perpetuate illegalities.”
Also contributing, the Chairman of the Founding members of the APC, Alhaji Mohammad Abubakar Katcha, recalled how he and many other founding members of the party in Niger state he waded in to save APC from pending extinction, adding that all to no avail.
Katcha, who also recalled how he was imprisoned for eight days, for speaking against noticeable infrastructural decay which he said had been robbing off on the APC-led administration in Niger state, described the present state of the party in the state as ‘pitiable’.
He said, “We saw the happenings, we have identified areas where there are lapses and wanted to see how we can resolve them. We stand with the Caretaker Committee, headed by Mohammed Jibrin Imam. Due process must be followed and we must abide by the party’s constitution.”
