The Alhaji Sadeeq Masalla faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has formally rejected the election of Chief Maxi Okwu and Alhaji Sani Shinkafi as interim National Chairman and Secretary respectively for the party.
Masalla at a press conference in Abuja described the announcement by Chief Tim Menakaya, after the party’s National Caucus as “not only laughable but equally negates the constitution of APGA, the Electoral Act and the constitution of the Nigeria”.
A few days ago , a meeting of the National Caucus of the party was convened Saturday in Abuja by Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state, where Maxi Okwu and Sani Shinkafi were elected as National Chairman and Secretary respectively.
While dismissing their emergence, Masalla said “the meeting of 16th February, 2013 by the respected elders and members of our party, is not a National Caucus of the party in the spirit and letters of Article 10 (11) and 11 (11) of the constitution of APGA and have therefore no power to elect and give to APGA interim National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) members.
He maintained that “even if the composition of that meeting is in tandem with the requirements set out in Article 10 (11) of our constitution, the National Caucus of the party still have no constitutional right to elect officers to run the affairs of our great party.
“The National Caucus is an advisory body that “receives financial statements from NEC for discussion and advise” and a “platform for the reconciliation of differences between senior party members and to ensure that there is peace in the party and the nation”.
He claimed that the at no time in the life of the party was such a body constituted or inaugurated, adding that with the directives of the Enugu High Court which penultimate week dissolved APGA NEC hitherto headed by Chief Victor Umeh, the only recognized leadership of the party remains the acting executive committee which he (Masalla) is heading.
Also faulting the emergence of Okwu as the party’s chairman, he stated that even if the organ of the party charged with election of such leadership was well constituted, “Maxi Okwu and Sani Shinkafi are not fit and proper persons to be elected to these offices of the party respectively”.
He brandished a certified true copy of 16th April, 2008 judgment of an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Husseini Baba Yusuf, and pointed out that in the judgment, Maxi Okwu was described as a “miserable liar who would stop at nothing in lying to suit his convenience”, insisting that the party had on January 12th January, 2005 expelled him from APGA even though he was then Deputy National Chairman (South).
“Maxi Okwu till this moment is still the founder and National Chairman of Citizens Popular Party (CPP) and if this is allowed, may send him to that unenviable height as the only man to lead two national political parties at the same time.
“As for Shinkafi, he had been the National Secretary of APGA for over 10 years. This makes him a veteran secretary and is therefore no longer in accordance with provisions of Article 18 (2) of the constitution of our party”.
Speaking on why he stayed away from the meeting convened by Governor Obi, he explained that it did not meet the party’s constitutional requirements, stressing that with what is left of APGA at the moment, he remains the only authentic National Chairman of the party.
“What the elders and members of our party did was merely advisory and shall form part of the issues that may be considered when the appropriate organ of the party entrusted by the Enugu High Court with the election of interim officers meets for that assignment,” Masalla stressed.
