…APC may appeal court judgement
The All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has declared that it did not send parallel state congress committee to Kano state.
The national APC leadership also said it was waiting to receive and study the recent High Court judgement recognising Senator Ibrahim Shekarau’s faction in the state.
National Secretary of the APC CECPC, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe gave the assurance Monday while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.
The Kano APC chapter has been thrown into crisis following the battle for the control of its structures.
A federal High Court sitting in Abuja had last week voided the ward and State Congresses conducted by Governor Ganduje faction which produced Abdullahi Abbas as Chairman.
Senator Akpanudoedehe, however told newsmen that the APC national secretariat was yet to get a copy of the judgement, delivered by Justice Muazu of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He said:” We are responsible leaders of the party and we won’t like to comment on a judgement that we haven’t seen.
” All I can tell you now is that, we are going to apply for a Certified True Copy of the judgement. We haven’t seen it. We need to study the judgement.”
Asked to react to speculation that the APC CECPC sent two different Committees to Kano state to conduct the state Congress, Akpanudoedehe dismissed it as unfounded allegation.
“We didn’t give letters to two Committees! How could we have done that? We won’t put fire in our own house, we know the people we gave official letter to go to Kano and conduct official assignment. That’s the team we will accord recognition.”
In a separate interview, Barrister Auwwal Ibrahim who led the team that conducted the Congress which produced the displaced Abdullahi Abass as Chairman, told newsmen that the Congress attended by Governor Ganduje was the authentic Congresses.
He recalled that his seven man team individually received an official letter from the APC, Director of Organisation, Professor Mustapha Mednaer, assigning them the responsibility to proceed to Kano state to conduct the Congress.
He said:” It was very fair and very cordial because we were drafted from the national headquarters of the party with my name and the names of our members. We collected our mandate from the APC headquarters through the office of the Director of Organisation, Professor Al Mustapha Mednaer.
“We went for the congress with all the materials and we conducted the congress in Kano without any hitches. We met with all the Stakeholders, from the governor to the local organising committee. We did what we did and we came back with the result to the national secretariat.
“All my members were with me. I have the pictures, including motion pictures to prove that we were all together at the Congress. We were seven all in all and everybody signed the results sheets and the report.”
Asked if he got wind of any parralel Congress while in Kano, Barrister Abdullahi responded in the affirmative.
“I was aware of it on the day of the congress. While the congress was going on, the chairman of the local organising committee who happened to be a one time deputy governor of Kano state called me and informed me that there was a parallel congress going on around one village near the prison yard.
“I told them that as far I was concerned I was sent from the national headquarters with the mandate to come and conduct the congress. So I told him that I was the genuine chairman of the congress and we have the consent and agreement of the national headquarters to come and conduct the exercise. I told him that I am not aware of any parallel congress that was going on and I told him that they won’t be recognised by the party.”