By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The State Chairmen of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) that led the party into the merger that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rubbished the claim of a group which earlier came out to suggest a division within the ranks of the APC along legacy parties.
Leader of the delegation of the real defunct legacy party leaders, Umar Shuaibu while addressing the press in the presence of the National leadership of the APC led by the National Deputy Chairman (North) Senator Lawali Shuaibu, described the claim of the first group as inimical to the success of APC and a deliberate attempt to cause confusion within the fold of the party.
It would be recalled that a group that claimed to be forum of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), involving former chairmen of the party in the 36 states of the federation met in Abuja behind closed-doors, after which they called on President Buhari to “remember the goose that laid the golden egg, claiming that the forum members were the original stakeholders of the movement of Buhari for President, tagged: “Buhari Project” which dated back to 2012.
However, Umar Shuaibu who was the Niger State Chairman of the defunct CPC prior to the merger said “the reason why we are here is to clear the air, to clarify on certain issues. It has come to our knowledge that some members in quote, who call themselves as the Foundation State chairmen of the CPC, met with the press last week and issued a statement, which is inimical to the success of the APC.
“That statement is a one that could cause confusion within the ranks of the APC. So we have come here to clarify, to present to you the real situation”.
Umar said “it had become very necessary to make clarifications in order to prevent clandestine groups such as this forum from misleading the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders and the general citizens.
He added “it is an established fact that the APC is a merger of the Congress For Progressives Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). It is evident that after the last National Convention of these aforementioned defunct parties that ratified the merger agreement, which subsequently led to the creation of a new and single party known as the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in their places, the three legacy parties legally ceased to exit.
According to him “this was further stressed by the returning of their respective certificates of registrations to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), prior to the issuance of a new certificate of registration for the APC by the INEC.
Umar further stated that: “Thus the gathering of any group, or group of individuals in the name of 36 state chairmen of the Defunct CPC, apart from being illegal, is inimical and counterproductive to the overall interest of APC as a party generally. In fact, it has the potential of sowing the seed of discord among the agreeing parties that came together for the formation of the APC.
Umar who accused the group of working for an interest to destabilise the APC, which was the reason they gathered themselves under the aegis of the “so-called foundation ‘State Chairmen’ without the invitation of those chairmen that led the defunct CPC to the merger that ensured the final victory.
He also reminded “the impostors that it is an open secret that what the CPC and the true supporters of GMB struggled to achieve in the three previous elections was not actualized despite the 12 million votes the CPC single-handedly got for GMB in the 2011 election”.
He expressed concerns that “already some aggrieved members of the APC are capitalizing on the outcome of the so-called foundation ‘chairman’ of the CPC as a proof of their insinuation that the APC is divided. We wish to state that we the genuine State Chairmen of the Defunct CPC that led it to merger dissociate ourselves from the activities of the so-called foundation Chairmen.
He however stressed that “we call on the National leadership to keep an eye on the activities of these types of groups, whose aim is creating disharmony within the party for their selfish interest”.
