Crisis Hits Bauchi APM as Faction Suspends Chairman Auwal Isah

From Paul Orude, Bauchi

A crisis has hit the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in Bauchi State, as the party’s secretary and 27 other executives announced the suspension of its chairman, Auwal Isah.

Mohammed Nasir Yahaya, the party’s state secretary, led the executives at a press conference on Wednesday, where they accused Isah of losing their confidence over actions they said were inconsistent with the party’s constitution.

Yahaya says APM Bauchi has replaced Auwal Isah with Hon. Nasiru Nuru Marafa as interim chairman.

Yahaya alleged that the chairman failed to ensure financial accountability, keep proper records of meetings and operate an official party bank account. He also accused him of handling party affairs unconstitutionally.

The faction said an emergency meeting of the executives had appointed Hon. Nasiru Nuru Marafa as interim chairman.

Yahaya said the dispute followed the defection of Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed and other government officials to the APM.

“We have some little internal crisis, whereby our chairman, Auwal Isa, changed the full names of the executives, bringing others who were not in the party, who are loyalists of the state government and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) organs,” he said.

He alleged that there had been an arrangement under which the state government sought to control 70 per cent of the party’s leadership, while the original party members would retain 30 per cent.

According to Yahaya, the party formed a harmonisation committee after the governor’s proposed defection, but the committee met for only four days before its sittings were suspended indefinitely.

He said the faction had submitted complaints and petitions to the governor, the national leadership of the APM and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insisting that it was not aware of a subsequent stakeholders’ meeting.

Yahaya further alleged that, among the 28 executives, Isah was the only one who had remained active in the party’s affairs in the state.

However, the embattled Chairman representative, AbdulShakur Danlami Mohammed, disputed Yahaya’s claim to the position of state secretary.

 AbdulShakur did not deny the group’s membership of the APM but said the party would respond appropriately later.