By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Following the outcome of the All Progressives Congresses Party’s state congresses, all may not be well with the Taraba State chapter of the party, as the crisis seemed to have taken a new twist.
The new twist was the physical assault on the serving Member of the House representatives, Danjuma Shiddi, (popularly known as Danji DSS)who was humiliated and beaten to a pulp at Shraton Hotels in Abuja, when stakeholders converged to fine-tune the emergence of state executives which could bring political stability and harmony within key stakeholders.
Credible sources at the stakeholders meeting, who pleaded anonymity, said “trouble started when Hon Danjuma bluntly rejected the concensus mode of congresses, which was unanimously adopted by all major stakeholders as the pattern of elections across the state.
He was then asked to specifically mention what he thought could be done by the party in Wukari local government as well as if he would prefer direct voting by party members. It was at this 6point that the visibly angry Danjuma started raining insults and invectives on some party loyalists by calling them thugs”.
Our source stated that one of the stakeholders, Prince Adi S Masa-Ibi and other concerned stakeholders, could not take the direct insult and asked him to mention the alleged thugs. It was at this point that the angry member, who could not control his emotions, verbally attacked Prince Adi in a language which was regarded by all as derogatory”.
Our source noted that the derogatory remarks earned Hon Dajuma some serious beating by Prince Adi, who could not contain the uncharitable invectives, not only on his person but his father, the late paramount ruler of the Kwararrafa kingdom, which Hon Danjuma Shiddi claims to represents.
Hon Danjuma was shielded out of the venue by security personnels and the stakeholders meeting ended abruptly.
All efforts to get his reaction proved abortive as he refused to talk to the press.
In another development, Taraba Truth and Facts reported that a son to the late first class monarch Prince Adi Shekaru Masa-Ibbi descended on Danji SS for ‘disrespecting his late father and mocking him with his death’.
Several eyewitnesses told Taraba Truth and Facts newspaper that Danji SS had referred to the late Aku Son as a thug who always bragged with his father’s influence, “Now that your father, the king is no more let see who you will brag with” Danji SS was quoted as saying.
Adi Husseini narrating what transpired at a breakout meeting of Wukari stakeholder said : “we traveled to Abuja for a critical stakeholders meeting of the party organized by the National Working Committee in Abuja, So in the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee sent from Abuja, said that the National Secretariat, stating that is financially incapacitated for now to conduct elections in the state congress, so they will rather advice that a consensus be made among stakeholders of the party.
“And considering the security issues in Taraba leading to the postponement of the congress, the report has got to them, so a consensus should be made and everybody agreed to comply.
“So all the positions within the party structure for the state, were zoned to each of the senatorial districts, We from southern part of the state were given 10 positions to vie for, we gathered as stakeholders and shared the ten positions into the five local governments making up the Southern zone.
“For Wukari, we were given Zonal Chairman of the Party and Assistant Publicity Secretary. When it came down to micro zone, we again in Wukari, met and discussed the modalities on how to bring up suitable candidates for the meeting. So in the meeting for Wukari again, we were given time for Wukari to discuss each of the local government within the zone to validate the result of the zone and submit to the state level. In Wukari, micro level, we set up a chairman that will lead us, which is Professor Dalhatu Sangari, General AT Ibrahim, Chief Ezekiel Afokunyo, Chief David Sabo Kente DSK, Hon Danji SS, Hon Josiah Sabo Kente, Alh Danladi Shehu, and a lot of other Stakeholders. we are of advantage in Wukari, for producing the highest votes in Taraba State, but we are only disadvantaged because, we are only given zonal chairman and assistant Publicity secretary, which does not hold water, when it comes to making decisions within the party structure. So for this reason, we all agreed that, the people with experience should continue with the office. At least they can influence certain things when it comes to decision making because they know the workings of the party. So all of us there now agreed that the incumbents should continue holding the positions.”
“At this point, Hon Danji SS stood up and said he doesn’t agree to the consensus because he has produced candidates for the offices.
“For zonal chairman there are two candidate, the incumbent and the person Danji SS bought form for, also for Assistant Publicity Secretary there are also two candidates. The incumbent and the person Danji SS brought for, so all of us at the meeting supported the incumbents, that they should continue but Danji SS alone said his candidates must be given the offices at that point there were a lot of arguments.
“So Hon Adi Prince son of the Late Aku Uka stood up and asked him (Danji SS) sir, what did you want us to do, he said all he knows is that, he is not comfortable with the consensus. So Chief Ezekiel Afokunyo now suggested that we go for voting since one person is not comfortable with the consensus but Danji SS challenged Chief Afokunyo on who gave them the mandate to vote. Chief Afokunyo tried to explain that If we don’t come to an agreement, then we should cast a vote, he said he is not comfortable with voting and not comfortable with the consensus. It was at that point Adi Prince stood up and asked Danji SS what actually he wants, in the process, Danji SS said they brought in thugs into the meeting referring to Prince Adi as thugs.
“Danji SS now faced Adi Prince and said now that his father, the king is dead who will you be bragging with, let him see how he will act now. Aku is now late let him see how he will brag, it was at that point Adi that slapped him, after the insult. When Adi slapped him, he fell to the ground and stood up to fight back . So they were fighting each other, and his candidate for zonal chairman also joined the fight. The police came and separated the fight which brought the meeting to an end, ” the medium reported.
