YOUTHS DISRUPT BAUCHI APC CONGRESS

APC

Hundreds of youths suspected to be supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday disrupted a meeting of the party meant to elect an interim leadership committee for the party in Bauchi State.

The congress which was attended by party stalwarts in the state had hardly begun when the hall was thrown into chaos by angry youths who came to witness the proceeding.
Convener of the meeting and national officer of the party Captain Bala Jibrin, confirmed the incident while speaking with our correspondent in Bauchi.
He said, “We had summoned a meeting of all stakeholders of the party in the state to elect the interim leadership but it was disrupted by political thugs among them responsible persons.”
Cpt. Jibrin said the meeting was organized in order to have a free and fair election by inviting all relevant stakeholders and neutral persons of integrity to monitor the election and to conduct free and fair election, but that before the commencement of the election, some youths broke the door of the venue of the meeting and came in to disrupt the convention.

He said no election or nomination was held as they were trying to commence the process of the election when the meeting was disrupted.
“We will report to the national headquarters what had happened and a new date will be announced later to elect the interim leadership of the party,” he said.
In his account of the incident one of the leaders of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) told our correspondent that many of them suggested that since the defunct CPC has the majority of followers in the state, the state chairman should come from CPC and Colonel Hamidu Ali (rtd) a former governor of Kaduna State who was not present at the convention was recommended “because we don’t want to give chance to anybody that will lead to the manipulation of Buhari’s votes,” he said.
He said when the youths heard that people were trying to elect Senator Mohammed A Mohammed from ANPP as chairman as proposed by the elders of the party, they rejected the idea and disrupted the meeting.
The stakeholders alleged that at the meeting, Senator Mohammed was nominated by his group to be the interim chairman of the party, with Dr. Yakubu Lame as secretary, and Alhaji Garba Gadi as treasurer while Ali Wakili  is to be the publicity secretary.
He said the nomination was rejected by many party members in attendance who were calling for free and fair election while supporting the idea of producing an independent person to be made interim chairman.
Immediately after the nomination, the other faction led by Senator Suleiman Nazif Gamawa rejected the list and condemned the process.
Other party stalwarts who backed Senator Nazif’s position include Alhaji Sani Malami, former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) chairman in Bauchi, Alhaji Baffa Tafida, former ACN chairman and Alhaji Aliyu Saidu former chairman of the defunct CPC.