APC Woes Compounded As National Vice Chairman Openly Accuses National Secretary Of Usurping Powers For ‘Selfish Reasons’

apc-logoThe ranks of the interim national leadership of the All Progressives Congress was rattled on Saturday following a public allegation by the party’s interim National Vice Chairman for the North East, Umar Duhu, that the party’s National Secretary, Tijani Tumsah, was usurping is official functions for ‘selfish reasons’.

Mr. Tumsah on Saturday supervised the inauguration of the interim leadership of the APC in Borno; a task that was constitutionally Mr. Duhu’s to perform.

“In my capacity as the Vice Chairman, I am the only one empowered by the APC to inaugurate all APC State Interim Committee (SIC) Members (in the zone)”, Mr. Duhu said, in a statement sent to reporters in Borno.

“I had inaugurated, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, and Adamawa States. I only have Borno and Yobe State, to conclude my assignment in the Zone”.

Mr. Duhu’s public vent comes on the heels of crisis in Borno APC between the state governor, Kashim Shettima, and his predecessor, Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff, over control of the party.

The executive inaugurated by Mr. Tumsah is loyal Gov. Shettima, who attended the event with his supporters while Senator Sheriff and his supporters were conspicuously missing at the event.

“For Borno State, I am on the last lap of discussions with the leaders of the Party in the State, to inaugurate them.  What I am doing is to carry everyone along. I will be failing in my responsibilities if I go ahead to inaugurate, and does not carry all members of the SIC along.

“This afternoon, the former State Chairman of the defunct CPC, called me on phone, and was accusing me of not involving them in the inauguration going on in Maiduguri.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I told him that, any inauguration in Maiduguri without my understanding or permission is in total nullified and is unacceptable to the Party,” he said.

The interim vice chairman questioned the rationale behind the party scribe’s actions without first consulting him.

“I am not sick, nor outside the sores of this Country, that anyone, no matter how big his position is in the APC, that, such person will usurp my powers and do so for selfish reasons”, he said.

“As party Leaders, we must be concerned with uniting our leaders and members, not to concern ourselves with personal gains or to further saw seeds of discord between them.”

“I will be very surprised and disappointed with any National Officer of the Party, who will go out of his way to go to Maiduguri to inaugurate the Borno State Interim Committee, for any selfish reason known to him.

“I never dabble into the affairs and works of any National Officer of the APC. Respect is reciprocal and I do not also expect anyone of them to do any such thing to me. We all have our defined responsibilities, and we must remain sincere to our responsibilities, and the respect for one another should be our guide”, he added.

It remains to be seen how this latest open crack in the fence of APC, which has claimed that its members are united in the quest to dislodge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would be mended, especially in light of last week’s defection of two of its stalwarts, former governors of Sokoto and Kano States, Attahiru Bafarawa and Ibrahim Shekarau respectively, to the PDP

Bafarawa and Shekarau in justifying their actions, said, among other things, that they abandoned APC because it treated them unfairly and was insensitive to some concerns they brought to the notice of the national leadership of the party over control of party structures in their respective states.