Stakeholders at the Bauchi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have rejected a move by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to impose a candidate, Babayo Alim, for the chairmanship position of the party in the state.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the ruling APC has slated this Saturday for the conduct of its state congresses.
Rising from a heated meeting on Thursday, the stakeholders rejected the minister’s move, calling on him to rescind his decision and allow aspirants from the Central Senatorial zone to contest the elections.
“There is a need for a level playing ground for every aspirant to contest this election, in the spirit of equity and fairness.
“The minister’s action will only create animosity among party members and further weaken the chances of the party in producing the next governor in the state.
“We can’t afford to remain silent while these anti-democratic practices go on in our party.
“We are committed to producing the next governor of Bauchi State and we will achieve our goal only by sticking to the universally recognized democratic practices,” one of the stakeholders who didn’t want his name mentioned stressed.
The stakeholders also alleged an ongoing move to coral federal and state legislators into endorsing the minister’s preferred choice.
Internal wrangling in several states including Kano is threatening the party’s unity ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Bauchi was one of the states the APC lost in the 2019 elections due to internal squabbles.
In the absence of an APC governor in the state, the minister is regarded as the party leader for occupying the highest government office in the state.
The minister did not respond to DAILY NIGERIAN calls and text messages sent to his mobile line seeking his reaction on the alleged plans to force a candidate onto the delegates.
But a political associate of the minister and chieftain of the APC in Bauchi State told our correspondent that Mr Adamu has no anointed candidate in the forthcoming party congress in the state.
According the source, the minister had only suggested going for consensus candidacy but when it was rejected by the party, he moved on.
