Congress: APC appeal panel receives 10 non-destructive petitions in Bauchi

Aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi state have sent 10 non-destructive but advisory and suggestive in nature petitions to the party’s appeal committee following the conduct of the ward congresses held two weeks ago.

The disclosure was made by Appeal Panel set up by the National Secretariat of the party to hear and handle all petitions by aggrieved members during the recently concluded ward congresses.

Chairman of the Panel, Dr Blessing Agbamhere, while addressing a press conference at the Command Guest House, Bauchi on Wednesday, said that the petitions from the aggrieved members were destructive to the party but advisory and suggestive in nature.

The appeal committee Chairman said that: “We came into Bauchi State on behalf of the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress to look into any matter arising from the just concluded ward congresses of our party in Bauchi state.”

He added that “So, what we have come here to do is to strengthen the party in order for us to reclaim the government from this present incompetent, none-performing, none-salary paying government led by Senator Bala Mohammed.”

Blessing Agbamhere added that “We received petitions but the petition is not really an issue as some people or the opposition will think because, in every family, you will always have issues of this happened, this did not happen, or it should not have happened, the way it should have happened or it did not favour me.”

“Out of the 10 petitions we received, most of them were suggestive of how the party can be more united and the activities we should do to unite the party and make it stronger. Most of the petitions are also advisory on what we can do to better the future,” He stressed.

He explained further that, “None of the petitions was detrimental to our party, none of them was destructive against the party and none of them seeks to do anything negative to the ward congresses we conducted in the state. Most of the petitions were not really against the party but a few disagreements with individuals.”

The chairman also said that the opposition has a way of making issues where there are no issues pointing out that there is no party all over the world that will conduct ward congresses, which is the foundation of the party and not have some dissenting voices.

According to him, his Panel received “minority” petitions noting that the party scored 90 per cent result in the ward congresses and said that the ward congresses in the state were conducted in line with the constitution of Nigeria and in line with INEC guidelines, the electoral act and in line with the APC constitution because “it is a family business.”

He then said that although there is no perfect system in the world, but what the APC did, it did it perfectly well and such cannot happen in the Peoples Democratic Party claiming that if it were in the PDP, several lives and properties would have been lost during the ward congresses.

He insinuated that “If you go to PDP states where they do ward congresses, you will see fights everywhere, you will see people killing people. I must commend those who conducted the ward congresses in Bauchi state because they conducted it peacefully without any hitch or fight anywhere, which is not possible when you go to the parties”.

He further opined that “PDP cannot do its ward congresses and not hear that 13 people died or 17 people got injured or 25 houses burnt, but APC conducted its primaries in Bauchi state successfully and I must commend the party in the state and the members who conducted themselves in a most distinguished and honourable manner which is not common in the politics of Africa, not just Nigeria”.

Going down memory lane, he said that, “I remember in 2011 when PDP had its ward congresses, I knew how many lives were lost, I knew how many communities were burnt down as a result of ward congresses. This is to show you the level of discipline in our party, for it to have conducted ward congresses and there was no one person that was harassed not to talk of any other activity that endangered the lives of people.”

When asked to comment on a pending court case instituted by one of its members in the state about the conduct of the exercise, he played ignorance that there is no party who went to court saying: “We are not aware because the constitution of the APC succinctly specifies the procedures for taking a case to court.”

“Before you can establish a case in a court of law in the APC, you have to, first of all, come to the appeal panel of the party. We have not seen anybody that has come to the panel to say that they have gone to court. And if anybody has done that, that person had done that in violation of the constitution of the APC”, He insisted.

It will be recalled that an APC chieftain in the state, Alhaji Sani Mallam and a few other members have instituted a case before the Federal High Court, Abuja to seek redress following the congresses in the state.

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President Muhammadu Buhari Friday at State House Abuja urged the MTN Group to make the available top-of-the-range service to its Nigerian subscribers..  Ward Congresses: APC Appeal Panel receives 10 non-destructive petitions in Bauchi  Ward Congresses: APC Appeal Panel receives 10 non-destructive petitions in Bauchi  Ward Congresses: APC Appeal Panel receives 10 non-destructive petitions in Bauchi  Ward Congresses: APC Appeal Panel receives 10 non-destructive petitions in Bauchi.