APC: Umahi warns against parallel congress

BY VICTOR NWEGEDE

The Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Nweze Umahi on Friday warned that the stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, should not allow their party to hold parallel congress.


Umahi also disagreed with the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo and other All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains who advised the Party to shelve the nationwide ward congresses scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday.


NATIONAL PANEL gathered that the advice came up following the Supreme Court judgement on the Ondo State governorship election.

Keyamo and other APC chieftains have publicly contended that by the reason of the judgement the legality of Mai Mala Buni-led Extraordinary Caretaker and Convention Committee had been put to question.

They argued that should the party went ahead to conduct the Congresses as scheduled, it might affect the party ahead of the 2023 general elections if any aggrieved member of the Party decided to challenge the legality of the exercise in Court.

But Umahi vehemently disagreed with Keyamo and others during the State stakeholders meeting held at Ecumenical Centre, Abkaliki on Friday, saying, there is no ambiguity in the section of the party’s constitution that provides for the constitution of a caretaker committee where there is a vacancy in the organs of the Party.

According to Umahi, it did not require anybody to be a lawyer to understand the constitution of the party provided you went to school.

“First is to comment on the contentious issue about our dear national Chairman. I want you to listen to this very well. I am not a lawyer, but this constitution of the party is made for all of us. And if you went to school you will be able to read and understand, because if the constitution of the party was meant for only lawyers, then, it should have been on a limited number.

“The constitution of the APC states that where the vacancy exists in any organ of the party that the national executive committee can set up a caretaker committee; the word is the caretaker committee, it is like an ad-hoc committee, a standing committee, and that is what the national caretaker committee is.

“And when you set up a caretaker committee, for example, in the State Executive Council, if you have a committee to do a particular work, let’s say is a work that is in the budget ministry of works, and you set a committee headed by the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, it does not make her to have the executive powers of the office of the Commissioner for Works and her office. She only has one executive office.

“Because the argument is that the chairman has two executive powers. They are not even saying he is not collecting a salary, but they are saying he is occupying two executive powers. But we want to let you know that it is only a caretaker committee. That’s what is in the constitution," Umahi said.

The Ebonyi State Governor further warned against anybody holding parallel Congress in any part of Ebonyi State, saying the person will have him to contend with.

He alleged that some stakeholders of the party in the State had ignored the Committee set up by the national leadership of the party currently in the state to carry out the Congresses to run to Abuja to obtain forms, with the intention of holding parallel Congress in the State.

“If you see anybody conducting parallel Congress in Ebonyi state, my directive is that security agencies should arrest anybody that is there and Ebubeagu should also do the same.

“It’s one, a contravention of the law of the Party and two, a contravention of the executive order because of Covid-19 and there is a law on gathering concerning this Covid-19.

“It’s important that we note this very well, I have done everything as a leader to ensure everybody is carried along very well, unfortunately, we still have over two-third (2/3) of the forms that are still awaiting people to purchase them.

“Some people who do not believe in my leadership have gone to Abuja to purchase their forms, no problem but they must comport themselves with the 7-man committee. If they do anything outside that, there will be consequences for that.

“If you want to do parallel Congress, you have to go to Enugu or Akwa Ibom or any other place to do it. Because their will be a fight if they try it and don’t say I did not warn you”, he warned.

Umahi also assured that there was nothing to fear in the Congress as it was going to be free, fair and transparent and where the stakeholders couldn’t agree on a consensus, the election would be held, but urged stakeholders to mobilize for the exercise even in the places where there was the consensus.

“If you have done a consensus and there is no mobilization to back that, we will assume that you did the election at the backyard. Let me warn you that what you enter must not exceed the party’s registration,”  the governor said.