Aggrieved APC members ask court to stop convention

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Some aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker- and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) from holding the party’s national convention in February.

The members are Suleiman Usman (an APC registered member in Nyanya ward, Federal Capital Territory -FCT), Muhammed Shehu (Banga ward, Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, Zamfara) and Audu Emmanuel (Furfuri ward, Bungudu LGA, Zamfara State.

In a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/3/2022, filed by their lawyer, Olusola Ojo, they argued that the APC would be violating its constitution if allowed to proceed to hold its national convention in February.

They contended that having not conducted congresses in all the 36 states and the FCT, the APC could not legitimately hold a national convention.

Defendants in the suit are the APC, the Chairman of the CECPC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The plaintiffs stated, in a supporting affidavit, that the APC held its state congresses on October 16, 2021 in 34 states, with the exclusion of Anambra and Zamfara states.

“After the state congresses of the first defendant (APC) held on 16th October, 2021, several aggrieved members of the first defendant and aspirants that participated in the congresses filed actions in various courts, challenging the conduct of the congresses on grounds of irregularities and non compliance with the first defendant’s constitution and the electoral law.

“Without concluding the state congresses of the first defendant in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, and resolving all the court actions pending against the outcome of the state congresses, the first and second and defendants moved on to schedule the national convention of the first defendant for February 2022 in flagrant disregard to the pending court actions.