Members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) have resisted the ongoing consensus arrangements for party primaries, insisting that anything short of allowing members decide who leads them at the Ward, Local Government Areas (LGAs), State and National/Federal level will not be accepted.
This is coming as aggrieved members of the party in Agwara Local Government Area, mostly youths have destroyed APC secretariat and declaring the APC non existence in the local government, reports Daily Independent.
The Special Adviser to Governor Bago on Political affairs, Alhaji Nma Kolo had announced that the party would adopt consensus as it suits it most under prevailing circumstances.
While the state government had settled for consensus, our correspondent learnt that some party officials and most members are rejecting the state government’s spearheaded consensus arrangements by insisting that anything short of democratic procedures will be resisted.
The state government’s theory, investigations reveal involves 3 people appearing to compete within themselves and one of them emerging through a procedure that the party members are insisting is not clear to them except the state government.
Findings by our correspondent indicate that the exercise ended in disarray in virtually all the LGAs where the alleged undemocratic experiment had taken place.
In Magama LGA, the APC Chairmanship consensus selection ended in shambles because the people insisted that they will not be party to political process that they are not familiar with or is alien to them.
“APC stakeholders in the entire Magama Local government were neither informed nor invited to participate in deliberations leading the Consensus Chairman Candidate for the party”, the people who are raising concerns about the legitimacy or otherwise of the selection said.
Consensus should be built through dialogue with key stakeholders, not dictated by the Governor’s Special Adviser or a few individuals who met behind closed doors and coming up with policy that is completely alien.
Particularly concerning is the disregard shown by the Magama Local Government Party Chairman for proper procedures, which could lead to division and unrest within the party, ultimately weakening its credibility.
One of the chairmanship candidates for the consensus, Mr. Emmanuel Endazo Alamu, explained the frustrations he had gone through and ended up not being able to present himself at the Nasko venue for the chairmanship consensus selection.
Alamu who claimed being politically weakened by what he saw about the entire process said, “Although I did not inform the party executives of my plan to withdraw from the race, it was due to some lapses I observed”.
After discussions with sponsors, Emmanuel Alamu said they agreed that there would be no fair play in the entire process and this prompted him to step back.
The tales of dissatisfaction and disappointment about the state government’s consensus controversy is same across the 25 LGAs as another party member from Kura Ward, Mallam Samaila Salka who is eyeing the Councilorship seat, revealed how he had eagerly waited without being contacted or informed about the consensus.
Members were not given the opportunity to express support for any candidate during the process, adding that the candidates put forward by the local party chairman lacks the backing of the electorates in Kura Ward.
From another LGA, Alhaji Audu Bako Auna from Auna Ward expressed similar frustrations over the consensus process, adding that the entire process is shrouded in selfishness focusing only on the interests of few in the corridors of power rather than the APC as a political party and Nigerlites generally.
“As one of the APC stakeholders in Auna Ward, I was not contacted about the process. When I heard that the committee had arrived and was at the party secretariat, I attempted to enter, but I was not allowed in.
“I then called Hon. Garba Sabo, the state Commissioner of Water Resources, and during our discussions, I ran out of credit. Unfortunately till today, he has not called me back to brief us about this process they are trying to force down on our throats”.
Bako joined others in pleading with Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, to urgently reconsider this consensus thing for the chairmanship aspirants in the area by ensuring that all the Wards are represented and no imposition of candidates to avoid truncating the chances of APC winning the local government election.
Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the state APC chairman, Alhaji Aminu Musa Bobi proved abortive as at the time of this report.
Aminu Bobi refused to pick when our correspondent called to ascertain what the party is doing or have done to douse building up tension across the 25 local government areas.
