Fresh crisis is threatening to engulf the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) barely two months after its inauguration.
Naija News reports that the crisis is brewing amidst back and forth over the governing party’s failure to screen its presidential aspirants and conduct its national convention to elect its presidential candidate.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman, has been accused of refusing to act on critical matters.
The accusation was made by a member of the NWC and National Vice Chairman, Northwest, Malam Salihu Moh. Mustaph, who is reportedly loyal to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Vanguard reports.
He accused the former Nasarawa State governor of allegedly allowing most NWC decisions lay fallow, refusing to implement them.
According to Mustapha, the APC National Chairman is using President Muhammadu Buhari as a cover up for his inability to make a headway regarding the screening of the party’s presidential aspirants.
Mustapha said despite the multitude of challenges afflicting the party, Adamu has remained largely inaccessible, hence his (Mustapha’s) decision to write him a letter.
The letter, which was addressed directly to the chairman, also copied the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu and all the NWC members
The letter reads partly, “The big challenge is ensuring that decisions taken are faithfully implemented. Inability of previous leadership under His Excellency, Adams Oshiomhole and His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, to implement decisions taken was partly responsible for the leadership crisis that confronted the party. Under your leadership, the current NWC is gradually snowballing into similar circumstances whereby decisions taken are allowed to lay bare and, in some instances, changed without necessarily taking needed steps to carry members along.
“No doubt, given all the challenges inherited and coming at a time when it’s extremely difficult to control events and almost everything would appear to have been set against the party and its leadership, we need to take every measure to avoid past pitfalls.
“Perhaps, it is important to acknowledge that, as National Chairman, you have raised the expectations of many of us in the NWC, and by extension many party leaders. For instance, the whole idea of setting up a transition committee, which took stock of what we have inherited, was your singular initiative.”
This is as he expressed concerns that there were some alleged liabilities incurred for legal cases handled without valid contracts.
He said, “The report of the committee was, to say the least, very shocking. Apart from the fact that there were more than 200 employees in the party’s National Secretariat, most of whom (were) without valid letters of employment, there were no standardised conditions of service. Statutory requirements for taxations, pensions and insurance benefits as provided by relevant labour laws are not being respected. There were claims by legal firms about liability owed for legal cases handled without valid contracts.
“All these were partly responsible for why many of the party’s bank accounts were blocked by subsisting court judgments, most of which copies are not available at the National Secretariat, which with your guidance the Party’s Legal Department is able to resolve.
“Partly based on your recommendations and insistence, to reform the Secretariat, the NWC decided to send all the Directors on leave pending the outcome of our investigation. It is clear to every discerning member of the NWC that many of the directors, if not all, would have to go. It is also clear that apart from the directors, there are many workers in the Secretariat that should go.
“However, as important and laudable as these decisions would appear to be, it is inadequate if it is not matched with initiatives to standardise operational practices in the National Secretariat, especially in terms of ensuring that employment requirement conforms with extant labour laws. As the ruling party, this must be guaranteed. As things are, we have suspended every initiative to reform the Secretariat, understandably so given all the challenges of meeting deadlines for electing party candidates for 2023 general election. The danger is that what we inherited will soon become the acceptable practice and new Directors and workers would be employed without any commitment to meeting provisions of the law with respect to employment standards.
“The other challenge is how as NWC we seem to be handling very critical responsibilities of managing affairs of the party very casually.”
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