Kogi APC crisis worsens as faction expels chairman

The crisis rocking the Kogi state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state got messier on Friday as a faction of the party expelled the state chairman, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, from the party.

The faction said the expulsion followed the failure of the embattled chairman to defend the allegations of anti-party activities and corrupt practices levelled against him by members of APC in Kogi state.

Apart from expelling the chairman, the new leadership of the party in the state also passed vote of confidence on the national  Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun for his commitment and selfless service to APC.

The acting chairman of the party,  Hon  Ahovi Ibrahim, made the disclosure during the inauguration of the new members of the executive of the party in Lokoja, the state capital.

But Ametuo described the Ibrahim-led group as “political jobbers, hungry people and ghosts” that are not recognised by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

However, Ibrahim had claimed that Ametuo had been investigated by the disciplinary committee of the party set up by the North Central Executive  Committee of APC and found him guilty of the allegations levelled against him.

He said: “All Progressives Congress as a party has high regards for the party’s constitutional provisions and within the party’s legal frameworks there are processes that will lead to the removal of a party chairman and other erring exco members which stop at the North Central Executive Committee of the party in this particular case.

“It is within the ambit of the party’s constitutional provisions to come to terms to expel an erring member such as in the case of Alhaji Haddy Ametuo and his cohorts, especially when the fact-finding or disciplinary committee of the party appointed recently to examine the allegations of anti-party activities and corrupt practices levelled against the former chairman deemed it so.

“It is pertinent to note that Ametuo was given seven days of grace to appeal the decision of his expulsion,  but chose to remain silent which of course translated to consent of all the charges against him”

Ibrahim warned Ametuo to stop parading himself as the state chairman of the party, advising him to pitch tent with other parties he had been fraternising with.

Ametuo in his reaction to the development said he remained the authentic chairman of the party in the state, saying he was the chairman that represented the state at the just concluded NEC meeting of the party.

He said the group that gathered in Lokoja to pronounce his expulsion lacked the power to do so as it was not recognised by the NEC.

He said nobody could decide to sack him the way the group did, saying the executive he is leading also cannot just sack or expel any member with recourse to the NEC.

Ametuo added that the state executive committee could only make recommendations to NEC, who has power to suspend any member.