The ruling Allied Peoples Movement, APM, in Bauchi State is facing an internal crisis following the suspension of its chairman, Auwal Isah, by a faction of the party’s executives.
The faction, led by the party’s secretary, Mohammed Nasir Yahaya, announced the suspension at a press conference on Wednesday.
Yahaya said the decision was based on alleged lack of financial accountability, poor record-keeping, failure to operate an official party bank account and violation of the party’s constitution.
He said the faction had appointed Hon. Nasiru Nuru Marafa as interim chairman following an emergency meeting of the executives.
Yahaya linked the crisis to the defection of Governor Bala Mohammed and other government officials to the APM, alleging that Isah changed the party’s executive list to accommodate people who were not original members of the party.
He said the affected individuals were loyalists of the governor and members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who joined him in moving to the APM.
According to Yahaya, the party’s original members had complained to the state and national leadership over the changes, but the issues remained unresolved.
He also alleged that an arrangement was proposed to give the state government 70 per cent of the party’s leadership positions, while the original members would retain 30 per cent.
Yahaya said a committee was set up to harmonise the different interests but held meetings for only four days before its activities were suspended.
He added that the faction had written to the party’s national leadership and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, saying it was not aware of a proposed stakeholders’ meeting.
Yahaya said Governor Bala Mohammed had earlier assured the aggrieved members that the disagreement would be resolved amicably.
He added that the faction had formally notified INEC and the party’s national leadership of Isah’s suspension.
However, the move has been challenged by another faction of the party.
Reacting to the development in an interview with select journalists, the factional publicity secretary, AbdulShakur Danlami Mohammed, said Yahaya was not the party’s secretary, although he did not dispute the group’s membership of the APM.
Mohammed said the party would issue an appropriate response to the development.