Yobe APC Governorship Primaries:Group Alleges Forceful Collection Of Membership Registration Cards
By Abdullahi Yusuf and Sani Gazas Chinade
A group,Yobe Concerned Citizens,has alleged that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state is forcefully collecting registration cards of members, ahead of the party’s forthcoming governorship primaries.
The convener of the group,Musa Ali Baba,made the allegations in a statement circulated to journalists on Tuesday.
“We received a sad and alarming report that the Yobe state APC leadership is currently and forcefully collecting membership registration cards from its members in the state ahead of the governorship primaries scheduled for the end of this month.
“An earlier plan by some mischievous leaders of the party to tout the party’s preferred candidate even without going to the party primaries has failed woefully as both members and other governorship aspirants exposed and rejected the plan.
“This is certainly an unfortunate trajectory in the history and traditional transition from an outgoing administration to an incoming one which is usually done in the state without any rancor,” Baba said.
According to him,many members of the party,especially those at the grassroots were asked to surrender their membership cards without any accompanying reason, a situation he said, raised questions among the ranks of the party.
He said this is being suspected as part of another grand plan to impose an unpopular candidate by giving the seized membership cards “to only their so-called loyal members to vote if it finally turns out that the primaries should be direct as against consensus.”
“If our suspicion is correct, then the seizure of the membership cards will translate to daylight robbery, imposition, disenfranchisement and denial on the electorate to bring in a candidate of their choice as the next governor of the state.
“We wish to call on the national leadership of the party not to allow this wicked act to be perpetrated in Yobe State and also implore our members not to surrender their membership cards to anyone, no matter what.
“Should we discover such miscreants collecting or seizing the cards from any member, we’ll seek legal redress,” the statement added.
In a swift reaction, however,the APC Youth Leader in the state,Hon. Musa Muhammad Gulani, strongly dismissed the allegations, describing them as false, misleading, and “a deliberate attempt by some disgruntled elements to create unnecessary tension and propagate unfounded narratives within the party.”
According to Gulani, no official directive has been issued for the collection or seizure of membership cards from any APC member in the state.
He assured that the party remains committed to a transparent and credible primaries.
Hon.Gulani,therefore,urged members of the public and the party’s faithful to disregard the allegations in their entirety, noting that such claims are aimed at causing confusion and disunity among members of the party.