From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia
A new state chairman for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Nasarawa has emerged following the successful conduct of the state congress of the party.
Philip Shekoo, only recently the state commissioner for Higher Education, emerged as the state APC chairman, while Aliyu Bello got elected as state secretary of the party.
The APC congress which was variously described as the most free and fair congress ever in the political history of the state took place yesterday at the Lafia City hall.
672 delegates from across the 13 local government areas of the state participated in the exercise which saw to the emergence of the first duly elected executives of the party expected to take over from the Interim Management Committee headed by the erstwhile Arc Stanley Buba.
Moving a motion for the adoption of the process leading to the emergence of the new APC state exco, former governor of the state, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, described the exercise as orderly and in total compliance with the party’s guidelines.
The new state APC executives are expected to be sworn-in today by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura at the Lafia Government House.
In a related development, former interim chairman of the party, Arc Stanley Buba, has written a petition to the national secretariat of the APC challenging the conduct of the state congress.
Buba, in the copy of the petition made available to journalists in Lafia yesterday, alleged that the party did not conduct the congress based on its avowed principles of justice, fairness and equity but that “the state congress committee appears to have set new rules for the congresses in collusion with over-zealous government officials.”
Buba who was previously contesting for the position of the party’s chairman, announced his withdrawal.
He urged the national secretariat of the party to look into the matter and ensure that the right thing is done, as according to him, “we cannot accuse other political parties of manipulations and turn-around to do worse.”
