APC crisis deepens as another faction of nPDP denies marginalisation claim

Some members of the “new Peoples Democratic Party” (nPDP) bloc in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have distanced themselves from claims of marginalisation by the ruling party.

This faction, led by a former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, made this known on Monday at the national secretariat of the ruling party after it submitted a letter noting the fortunes of the nPDP bloc under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Other members of the group who were at the secretariat were former member of the House of Representatives from Kwara State, Moshood Mustapha; Abdulmumuni Jibrin (Kano); Theodore Georgewill (Rivers); Abdullahi Mahmood (Kano); Ahmed Aliyu (Nasarawa); and Ahmed Abubakar (Adamawa).

Last Wednesday, some members of the “nPDP” wrote a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, lamenting the lack of appreciation of their contributions to the success in the APC and Mr Buhari in the 2015 general elections.

The letter was jointly signed by a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kawu Baraje and a former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The nPDP members, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC in 2013 demanded that the chairman facilitates a meeting for them with Mr Buhari within seven days.

Mr Oyinlola himself defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and also resigned his chairmanship of the Board of the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) last week.

But the splinter group led by Mr Adamu, who visited the APC national secretariat on Monday ,alleged in a letter addressed and submitted to Mr Odigie-Oyegun that the Baraje-led group was only playing a script to destroy the APC at this crucial time.

In the letter dated May 14, 2018 and entitled ‘’Unfounded and Unjustified Grounds for Confrontation with our Party the APC and Government by some members of the Defunct nPDP’,” the group said members of the then nPDP, had not met since the last meeting held by the group in 2014, so it had no idea how some group of people would come up to speak for it.

The letter reads: “In any case, the letter is full of contradictions, false assertions, mis-representations, distortion of history and facts and in many instances, outright lies.

“We, as initiators and founding members of the defunct nPDP, therefore wish to condemn and disassociate ourselves from the letter and apologise for the obvious embarrassment the letter has caused our party and government.

Reaffirming their support and confidence in the party and the president, the group said they do not in any way feel marginalised or maltreated.

“We wish to reaffirm our support and confidence in the party and Mr President and we do not in any way feel marginalised or maltreated as we are clearly in the league of the biggest beneficiaries of the party.”

It described the petition by Mr Baraje as full of contradictions and expressed its desire to be part of any meeting that the president may want to have with the Baraje group.

Apart from Mr Adamu, the senator representing Nasarawa West, other signatories to the letter were Messrs Georgewill and Jibrin.

Copies of the letter were sent to Mr Buhari and a national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu.

Speaking with journalists after submitting the letter to Mr Odigie-Oyegun, Mr Adamu claimed they knew who the Baraje group was working for.

“We know the voice. We know who he (Baraje) represents. We know where he is coming from,” said the senator, who defected alongside 10 other senators, including the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to APC January 11, 2014.

“We received with great shock and embarrassment the news that a former acting chairman of the PDP, Kawu Baraje, led four others to deliver a letter they claimed on behalf of the nPDP which is defunct and has long dissolved into the APC during the 2013 merger.

“As members of the then nPDP, we are aware that the last meeting that was held by the group was in 2014. Since then, no meeting has been called.

“Where did Baraje and Olagunsoye Oyinlola obtain the alleged resolution to write the said letter? When and where was the meeting held? Who were those that attended the meeting?” he queried.