APC threatens to expel members who dragged party to court over tenure extension

macfranc007 March 20, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Adeola Opeyemi

- State chairmen of APC said there is no going back on the tenure elongation for party's national officers

- The group said the decision to extend the tenure of the national officers was in the best interest of the party

- They warned that members who have gne to court to challenge this decision may be expelled from party

The state chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday, March 19, said there is no going back on the tenure extension for national executives and warned that members who have gone to court to challenge this decision may be expelled.

The Punch reports that the national secretary of the APC State Chairmen’s Forum, and chairman of the party in Enugu state, Dr. Ben Nwoye made this known while addressing journalists at APC secretariat in Enugu.

Nwoye said: “Some people have been critical of the decision of the NEC to extend the tenure of the national officers, but speaking as the National Secretary of the APC Chairmen’s Forum, I want to state that the development was in order. It was in the best interest of the party and the nation.

“Before the NEC meeting in Abuja, the forum met and unanimously agreed to advocate and advance tenure elongation for the national officers. We felt it would harm the party to go into congresses in an election year.

“The chairmen, at the meeting, agreed on two years’ extension.

“The chairmen, in a resolution, passed a vote of confidence in Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari; in the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; in the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and in the reconciliation committee.”

Nwoye accused members who are in the "minority group" of constituting nuisance by going to court rather than submit their grievances to the appropriate committee.

He said: “They now want to overturn what the majority has done; those who have issues with the elongation should have gone to the reconciliation committee to submit their grievances, instead they went to court.

“It is either that they are not APC members or they don’t know the party’s constitution.

“No true party member will look at what is happening and decide to go to court. There is no limit to the grievances that can be brought before the reconciliation committee.

“Those who went to court are being used by the so-called third force to destabilise the APC.

“According to the APC constitution, you cannot take the party to court. So, those who filed lawsuits stand expelled from the party.

“You are automatically expelled from the party when you file a lawsuit without exhausting the available remedies provided within the party’s internal mechanisms – you just can’t file a lawsuit because you disagree with the decision of the NEC.”

Asked whether he was calling for the expulsion of all those challenging the decision in court, Nwoye said, “I am not calling for their expulsion, the constitution says they should be expelled.

“According to constitutional provisions, they have automatically expelled themselves. They can also recall themselves by withdrawing the suit.

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“You cease to be member of the APC once you decide to go to court.”

Recall that NAIJ.com earlier reported that APC party chieftain, Dr Wale Ahmed, filed a suit against the senior members of the party.

Ahmed in the suit he filed against the excos said the extension of the tenure of the National Working Committee, NWC headed by Chief Odigie-Oyegun and other committees across the country was in violation of the constitution and other extant laws.

APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 on NAIJ.com TV