A group of 10 All Progressives Congress (APC) local government chairmen has filed a case before the Federal High Court, Gusau challenging their recent dissolution on June 29, by the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Mai-Mala Buni.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the the Chairman of APC’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and Yobe state governor, Mai-Mala Buni announced the dissolution of all the party’s leadership structure while receiving Gov. Bello Matawalle into the APC from the PDP.
The plaintiffs, Alhaji Abdulaziz Danmaliki and nine others applied to the court through D. C. Enwelum (SAN) of Bello Umar & Co., Legal Practitioners and Notary Public of Zamfara situated in Gusau, the state capital.
The case was filed against the CECPC Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Mai-Mala Buni as first defendant, the All Progressives Congress (APC), second defendand and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as third defendant.
The plaintiffs sought the court to determine whether the CECPC chairman had the right to dissolve them and handover affairs of the party and whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can lawfully accept and deal with any other officer of the party in the state other than the plaintiffs.
They asked the court to declare as “mere oral announcement of the dissolution on the June 29, as illegal and a void act contrary to Article 14.1 (lll), (V) and (Vlll) of the party’s constitution.”
That the dissolution does not extinguish the legal rights of the plaintiffs and that the first defendant lacks the right to remove the plaintiffs who were duly appointed by the National Secretariat of the party on 8th of December, 2020.
That the June 29, announcement dissolving all executives and party structure in the state is null, void and of no effect as well as seeking the court to order the third defendant (INEC) not to accept or deal with any other state officer other than the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs also urged the court to set aside and nullify the announcement made by the first defendant dissolving the executives and handing over affairs of the party to Gov. Matawalle as the party leader and that the court should order that the appointment of the plaintiffs subsists.
They also appealed to the court to restrain the first and second defendants from disrupting their tenure of office pending the conduct of congresses at all levels and also restrain the third defendant from recognizing or dealing with other members.
The lawyers in their summons then submitted that the defendants should respond within 30 days of receipt of the summon from the July 12, without which “proceedings may be taken as the presiding judge may think just and expedient.”
NAN further reports that crises began in the APC following the June 29, defection of the state governor Bello Matawalle from the PDP to the APC during which the party’s CECPC Chairman dissolved all the state executive structures and announced the governor as the new leader of the party which did not go down well with many stakeholders.
