The court created national secretary of the crisis-ridden All Progressives Congress (APC), Mustapha Salihu, who is APC national vice chairman, North East, has disowned his assumed ally, Victor Giadom, also a court created APC acting national chairman, and the court order, itself, which recognized Salihu as acting national secretary.
Salihu protested that was not a party to the suit that resulted in the court order dated June 16, 2020 from the FCT High Court sitting at Maitama, presided by Justice S U Bature, which identified Salihu as the applicant and granted an interim order that Comrade Salihu should act as national secretary pending “the decision of a validly convened National Executive Committee (NEC) or pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already filed, whichever comes first.”
However, a very furious Comrade Salihu had declared that there was no way he would have been party to the interim order when he was at a meeting of the party’s stakeholders from the North East where decision was made to nominate and endorse Architect Waziri Bulama for the acting national secretary of APC.
“My zone, the North East, has already nominated Architect Waziri Bulama in the presence of the Senate president, APC governors from the zone and other party stakeholders as the acting national secretary.
“I was at the meeting where this decision was reached. So, why now would I go back to obtain a court order to act as national secretary?
“I was not part of such shenanigan. It is not in my character to play such dirty politics and I condemn in strong terms those behind the act. “At a time like this when the party is going through trying times, it is such a time that all lovers of the party must pull together to keep the party running,” Salihu declared.
The motion ex-parte with number FCT/HC/M/7707/2020 was supported by an affidavit sworn by one Obinna Ugwu and the defendants were identified as Babatunde Ogala, national legal adviser, Lanre Issa Onilu, national publicity secretary, Waziri Bulama, acting national secretary and the APC.