The leadership crisis rocking the United Kingdom chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken on a new dimension as some members who alleged disenfranchisement have vowed to challenge the outcome of the congress in court if the national working committee of the party in Nigeria failed to address the grievances of the members who were tactically fenced out from participating in the congress.
The National Secretary of the party, Sen. Ajibola Basiru, was in London a few days ago to conduct a congress, which has continued to receive condemnations from all walks of life, including the secretary of the interim committee, who has also alleged exclusion by hiding information.
In this new twist, a party member, Prince Olusanjo Adebola Olurebi, had, through his lawyers, AXIS Solicitors, petitioned the party’s headquarters, alleging irregularities in the said congress.
In a petition, Olurebi, through his solicitor, said, “As a legitimate member of the APC UK, our client and several members of the party in the UK are completely disenfranchised by the failure of the system put in place by the National Secretary of the party on January 13, 2024. He came to the UK to harmonise and conjoin both national parties but failed to do so.
“As a consequence, our client has been denied his legitimate right to participate and vote in the congress of the party’s chapter to which he belongs as a fully paid-up member. Similarly, other members have been deprived of their legitimate right to participate in the election, which is the basis of democracy.
Olurebi, who doubled as the Asiwaju of Egbaland in Manchester, contends that the Interim Committee inaugurated by the national secretary of the party, Sen. Ajibola Basiru, had failed woefully and should be disbanded with a new team set up to pilot the party in the United Kingdom. He expressed his disappointment in the National Secretary for taking sides with some people to conduct a congress when the interim committee had only met once.
The Egba chief accused Sen. Basiru of planning to derail the party’s ship in the United Kingdom by unilaterally choosing some people to be the party’s leaders. The people chosen both for the interim committee and the new congress represented a mere fraction of the teeming members of the APC in the United Kingdom, which Sen. Ajibola has now decided to push away from the party with a stern warning that this may spell doom for the party in the diaspora.
In his words, “The interim committee inaugurated and put in place at the Central London meeting on January 13, 2024, has failed to execute the functions that it was charged to perform before culminating in a congress date. They have refused to call a general meeting of members and stakeholders to harmonise the party for over six months due to personal grievances between the chairman and secretary, jeopardising the collective interests of members in the UK.
“Furthermore, the interim chairman is contesting for the chairmanship position at the proposed congress after manipulating the process and using his office to propagate his campaign, which is unjust, unfair, undemocratic, and against the party’s constitution of level playing grounds for all contestants.
“You have also arranged for a stakeholder meeting on June 27, 2024; however, no communication of the same has been made to the majority of the members. Only a small number of the members were made aware of their support for their candidate. This is inappropriate, disproportionate, unjust, and not in line with the constitution of the party.
“The interim chairman has upturned the mandate of the interim committee set up in January by creating another local organising committee for himself and his group to take over and organise the congress on June 29, 2024, which is totally absurd.”
Last week, a letter from the Secretary of the Interim Committee, J. K. Adebola, alleged a breach by ensuring he and his group were not allowed to participate in the said congress. Adebola was quoted thus: “The lack of official communication led to the disclaimer notices issued by the interim secretariat. If there was any official communication regarding the congress, it must have been done discreetly or hidden from the interim secretariat for obvious reasons.
“In view of the importance and enormity of a chapter consolidation congress, one would have expected an official letter with all congress details duly signed and sent from the APC headquarters (HQ) and copied to the chairman and secretary of the UK Interim Committee. If such a letter exists, none was sent to me.
As Olurebi has posited, the crisis rocking the APC in the United Kingdom is far from over and will require the efforts of the National Working Committee to wade in quickly to avert a tsunami that will hit the diaspora branch, which has always been the herald of the party.
