By Becky Momodu
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to its members and stakeholders in Anambra State to remain calm as the party moves to resolve the internal crisis threatening its structure in the State.
Consequently, the national leadership of the party has set up a 5-Man Fact-Finding and Reconciliation Committee.
Briefing journalists on Monday in Abuja, the APC deputy national chairman (South), Dr. Ben Nwaoye, who is the Committee chairman said the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) constituted the panel during an emergency meeting to investigate the causes of the crisis and reconcile aggrieved factions.
According to him, the Committee comprises the National Woman Leader, Dr. Mary Alile; the National Legal Adviser, Barrister Abdulkarim Kana, (SAN); the National Leader of Persons with Disabilities; and the National Secretary, who will serve as Secretary of the Committee.
He said the Committee had been mandated to identify the immediate and remote causes of the dispute, engage stakeholders and restore unity within the party.
“The purpose of the committee is to find the cause of the crisis, talk to stakeholders, and see ways of reconciling the warring parties, ensuring that our party is united, that peace-building mechanisms are put in place, and that those who have emerged as candidates of our party can participate freely in the upcoming election,” he said.
The Committee chairman urged all factions involved in the dispute to refrain from actions capable of escalating tensions, assuring them that the party’s national leadership was already taking concrete steps to restore peace.
“We have to inform all the warring factions to hold their peace. The national leadership of the APC is aware of the crisis, and we are taking direct measures to ensure that peace is preserved and law and order is maintained,” he stated.
He disclosed that the party’s legal team had already responded to the litigation arising from the crisis, adding that the enforcement of an earlier court order had been stayed.
“Our legal people, through the office of the National Legal Adviser, filed the appropriate processes as soon as we became aware that a lawsuit had been filed. Today, we received a report that the enforcement of that order has been stayed by the court that issued it,” he said.
Dr Nwaoye also revealed that letters would be sent to stakeholders and security agencies in Anambra State to safeguard the party’s secretariat and other property from destruction during the crisis.
“We will be sending letters to stakeholders as well as to security agencies in Anambra State to ensure that peace is preserved and that our property, including our secretariat, is not damaged by any of the warring factions,” he said.
He further cautioned party members against resorting to the courts without first exhausting the APC’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms, warning that such actions could have constitutional consequences.
“You don’t go to court until you exhaust all the remedies available within the party. Rushing to court and using it to settle internal party disputes without exhausting the internal dispute resolution mechanisms amounts to self-expulsion. Once you go to court under such circumstances, you are deemed to have considered yourself a non-member,” he said.
He said consultations with stakeholders would begin in Abuja before the panel proceeds to Awka, the Anambra State capital, to meet party leaders and members.
“We will meet stakeholders in Abuja, and we will also travel to Awka to engage stakeholders and members of our party, establish the immediate and remote causes of the crisis, and develop solutions that will resolve the problem,” he added.
Recalled that APC in Anambra State had been engulfed in a deepening leadership tussle between factions led by Senator Emma Anosike and Chief Ifeanyi Osegbo.
Early this month Chief Osegbo and his supporters took over the party’s state secretariat in Awka, claiming to be the rightful leadership following a Federal High Court judgment.
An action Senator Anosike-led faction rejected and describing the court judgement as a “kangaroo”.