The All Progressives Congress (APC),
Ghana Chapter on Thursday protested its non inclusion as a delegate block to the APC national convention billed for March.
Chairman of APC Ghana, Mr Oghenosa Micheleti made the protest known in a statement in Lagos.
The Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC postponed the party’s Feb. 26 national convention to March 26.
Michelleti said that not ceding a delegate slot officially to the APC in Ghana was tantamount to relegation, sidelining and non inclusion which was not acceptable to its members.
“We are not only being sidelined, we are not even included in any of the committees for the convention, irrespective of how active the Ghana chapter has been in propagating the image of the APC globally.
‘In Ghana. the APC flag is very visible and we have a large number of members who now feel that that they are only important during elections to be used to propagate the APC image at presidential elections.
” The APC belong to all Nigerians willing to be members. Nobody will make us leave the party. We worked for the APC/President Muhammadu Buhari campaign from 2015. We will do it again but we will not be sidelined,” he said.
He said the members are sad and angry and also demanded that further amendments be made to the APC constitution to recognise the diaspora groups as part of the organ of the party.
“APC Ghana are the first diaspora chapter to raise bill boards to call Nigerians home to vote and no one can frustrate us out of the party, it’s our party.
“APC Ghana have been major physical contributors to the victory of our party in all elections since 2015, we have records of our physical contributions and physical presence in most states and this was done without any financial support from our party or the leaders.
” Our present caretaker leadership can attest to our immense contributions to the party. Not including us in the scheme of things in the upcoming convention, will not only demoralise members but it is an infringement on our fundamental human rights as citizens of Nigeria and party members.
“We believe in peaceful resolution to issues in our party as a family but if a quick redress is not done and our demands are not looked into, we may seek an alternative legal resolution to the matter to get justice,” Michelleti added. (NAN)
