By IBRAHIM KADO
YOLA- The Adamawa State executive committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has passed a vote of no confidence on the state chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, over gross misconduct.
A statement signed by the executives in Yola stated that the action followed the failure of the chairman to respond to some allegations of gross misconduct leveled against him as provided for in the constitution.
“We, the undersigned members of the state executive committee of the APC in Adamawa have passed a vote of no confidence on the chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, over gross misconduct.
“On the 26 Aug., 25 members of the state executive committee, issued a formal complaint to three executive officers of the party over constitutional violations which constitute gross misconduct in line with the spirit of fair hearing as provided by the constitution.
“The persons involved are the chairman of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, the secretary, Mr Raymond Chidama and the treasurer, Alhaji Yahya Hammanjulde.
“They were given seven-day grace to respond to the allegations which elapsed on Thursday.”
According to the acting Chairman, Mr Samaíla Tadawus, the secretary and the treasurer acknowledged receipt of the petition and promised to respond soon, while Bilal refused to respond.
He added, ”there are a plethora of petitions at the secretariat addressed to the chairman, but he hadn’t sat down at the secretariat for a second for over two months making the petitions to remain unaddressed.
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“That forced some of the complainants to leave the party.
“As a result of this gross failure, it was resolved that article 21.5 (vi) of the party’s constitution should be invoked.
”This vested in us with the powers to pass a vote of no confidence on him.”
Reacting, Bilal debunked his impeachment, saying that he remains the party chairman as only the National Working Committee of the APC, reserves the power to remove an elected chairman of the party.“I still remain APC party chairman in Adamawa. This needs to be restated so as not to mislead the uninformed.”Only the National Working Committee, of the APC, reserves the power in a dispute or crisis to remove an elected chairman of the party.“Our party guidelines are clear on this issue,” Bilal declared.He stated he was encouraged by the ”outpouring of goodwill from party stakeholders who have said these grave desecration of the rule of law will never be allowed to prevail. ”He thanked all APC faithful’s in the state, who have called to express their solidarity to him.Bilal added: ”I want to reassure our party stakeholders to disregard the actions of motley crowd, of lies within, acting the script of the opposition to plunge the party into crisis.“I want to urge every party member to remain calm as I remain the chairman of the APC in Adamawa.”By Allah’s grace, I will serve out the remainder of my tenure, and lead our party to victory, come next year’s general elections.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ilesha Abbo (APC-Adamawa North), has cautioned stakeholders of the party against instigating crisis in it.
Mr Abbo, made this known in a statement in Yola on Tuesday. saying, ” the party was heading for victory not internal wranglings.”
He described the current crisis rocking the party as ”baseless, saddening, unfounded and unfortunate.”
Abbo, who pledged support to the leadership of the incumbent chairman, stressed the need for unity and understanding within the party.
“We won’t allow moles to destroy the party and we are solidly behind the leadership of Bilal.
“As politicians, we should always deploy political solutions to political problems, not envy and hate capable of destroying the party,” he urged. ( NAN)
