The crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State appears to be deepening as members of the State Executive Committee (SEC) pass a vote of no confidence on the State Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, alleging gross misconduct.
The State Executive Committee members, in a statement in Yola, indicted that the decision to remove the chairman was because of his failure to respond to allegations of gross misconduct against him, as prescribed in the constitution.
The statement reads: “We, the undersigned members of the state executive committee of the APC in Adamawa have passed a vote of no confidence on the chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, over gross misconduct.
“On the 26th of August, 25 members of the state executive committee, issued a formal complaint to three executive officers of the party over constitutional violations which constitute gross misconduct in line with the spirit of fair hearing as provided by the constitution.
“The persons involved are the chairman of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, the secretary, Mr. Raymond Chidama and the treasurer, Alhaji Yahya Hammanjulde.
“They were given seven-day grace to respond to the allegations which elapsed on Thursday.”
The acting Chairman, Samaíla Tadawus, noted that the secretary and the treasurer acknowledged receipt of the petition and promised to respond soon, while Bilal refused to respond.
Tadawus maintained that “there are a plethora of petitions at the secretariat addressed to the chairman, but he had not sat down at the secretariat for a second for over two months making the petitions to remain unaddressed.
“That forced some of the complainants to leave the party.
“As a result of this gross failure, it was resolved that article 21.5 (vi) of the party’s constitution should be invoked.
“This vested in us with the powers to pass a vote of no confidence on him.”
The supposedly removed State Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, however, insisted that he remains the party chairman, arguing that only the APC National Working Committee (NWC) has the power to remove an elected state chairman of the party.
According to him: “I still remain APC party chairman in Adamawa. This needs to be restated so as not to mislead the uninformed.
“Only the National Working Committee of the APC reserves the power in a dispute or crisis to remove an elected chairman of the party.
“Our party guidelines are clear on this issue.”
Bilal asserted that he is bolstered by the ”outpouring of goodwill from party stakeholders who have said these grave desecration of the rule of law will never be allowed to prevail. ”
He commended all APC members in the state, who have called to express their solidarity to him.
Bilal urged party stakeholders to disregard the actions of motley crowd, of lies within, acting the script of the opposition to plunge the party into crisis.
He also urged every party member to remain calm, reaffirming that he remains the APC chairman in Adamawa.