Senator Lawan Shuaibu, All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Chairman (North), has said that the party’s newly inaugurated five-man disciplinary committee lacked constitutional power to investigate him.
He made this known in his letter to the committee chairman, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, on Saturday in Abuja.
He advised the committee to follow due process of law and the party’s Constitution to avoid driving it into the mud.
The APC National Working Committee (NWC), on Thursday, set up a five-man disciplinary committee to investigate allegations levelled by Shuaibu against Adams Oshiomole, the party’s National Chairman.
The committee, according to Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary, is to particularly investigate Shuaibu’s allegation against Oshiomole on issues involving the collective decisions of the NWC.
The committee is also to investigate alleged instigation of Senators and members of House of Representatives by Shuaibu against the decision of the party on the choice of presiding officers for the Ninth National Assembly.
However, Shuaibu while acknowledging receipt of a letter of invitation to appear before the committee, said it lacked the constitutional backing to investigate him.
According to him, the APC Constitution in Article 21 stated that such power shall only be exercised by the party through its respective Executive Committee at all levels.
He, therefore, stressed that he would not appear before the “illegal” committee, saying that he was too informed to get involved in illegalities.
“I was initially gladdened by an earlier statement by the National Publicity Secretary in his media reaction to my letter,that the issues raised in the letter are between two leaders.
“I wonder at what stage it became a NWC issue, and I don’t know from where the NWC derived the power of discipline.
“I am not a lawyer, but I have been in the political party system for about a decade now to know that every decision of the party shall be in line with what its Constitution stipulates.
“When I served as a National Secretary, my own National Chairman would insist that I worked with the National Legal Adviser for advice on every issue before any decision was arrived at,“ Shuaibu said.
He noted that the founding fathers of the party entrusted matters of discipline within it to the larger Executive Committees, not a group of few party members.
“Otunba, my honest advice to you is, since you are the closest NWC member to the Chairman, in order not to drive the party into the muds, always insist on following the due process of law.
“All he needs to do is to work closely with the Legal Adviser and not to mock his advice, because if we find any failure in that instance, you cannot blame the lawyer,” he said.
Shuaibu added that the allegation that he was inciting National Assembly members against the party’s nominees for the ninth National Assembly was; “to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it”.
While saying that the allegations against him were weighty, Shuaibu said he would not be intimidated, adding that he had never played double standard in his life or told lies for any favour.
He maintained that he depended on God for all his needs and favour.
“If you want to punish me for saying what I still believe is true, then you have to take this matter to where you are avoiding, the National Executive Committee (NWC).
“My advice is please let us save this party, as a stitch in time saves nine.
“I assure you there is nothing personal about this, except that my concern that the party is drifting”, Shuaibu maintained.
