10 APC LG chairmen sue party over dissolution of caretaker committee in Zamfara

A group of 10 All Progressives Congress (APC) local government chairmen in Zamfara state has filed a case before a federal high court in Gusau, challenging the recent dissolution of the party’s executive in the state.

The APC caretaker/extraordinary convention planning committee (CECPC) had dissolved the party’s executive in Zamfara following the defection of Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, from the PDP to the APC.

Mai Mala-Buni, governor of Yobe and CECPC chairman, also declared Matawalle as the leader of the party in the state.

The suit filed before the court by one Abdulaziz Danmaliki and nine others on Monday has Buni as first defendant, the APC, second defendant and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as third defendant.

The plaintiffs want the court to determine whether the CECPC chairman had the right to dissolve them and hand over affairs of the party, and whether INEC can lawfully accept and deal with any other officer of the party in the state, other than the plaintiffs.

They asked the court to declare the “mere oral announcement, of the dissolution, on the June 29, as illegal and a void act contrary to Article 14.1 (lll), (V) and (Vlll) of the party’s constitution”.

They also argued that the dissolution does not extinguish the legal rights of the plaintiffs and that the first defendant lacks the right to remove the plaintiffs who were duly appointed by the national secretariat of the party on December 8, 2020.

They want the court to nullify the dissolution as well as order INEC not to accept or deal with any other state officer other than the plaintiffs.

They also prayed the court to order that the appointment of the plaintiffs subsists.

They appealed to the court to restrain the first and second defendants from disrupting their tenure of office pending the conduct of congresses at all levels.