Gaidam, Maihaja and the soul of Yobe APC
Some loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yobe State have faulted the recent expulsion of the new Director-General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Engr. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja from the party over alleged antiparty posturing
Engr. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja was a gubernatorial aspirant in 2015 election in Yobe State on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) but was expelled by the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party on June 14, 2017, over alleged “flagrant abuse of the party’s constitution”.
Trouble came to the fore when shortly after the 2015 elections; the DG instituted a court case against the APC and Governor Ibrahim Gaidam.
He challenged the governor’s nomination by the APC for the 2015 governorship election on the grounds that the 1999 Constitution did not make any provision for a chief executive to take the oath of office more than two times.
Gaidam, who was Yobe deputy governor in 2007, took his first oath of office as governor after the death of Mamman Ali on January 29, 2009.
After completing the tenure, he vied for the office in 2011 and was sworn-in for the second term.
His case is therefore like that of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and late President Yar’adua.
However, after a strenuous legal battle, just like those who dragged Jonathan to court to stop him from contesting in 2015, Maihaja lost at both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Though some political observers thought that, that should be the end of the issue, they were all wrong as the development at the Supreme Court, which has celebrated by those close to Governor Gaidam, only ended a legal battle but opened a fresh door for political scheming.
The APC in Yobe State accused Maihaja of abusing the party’s Constitution by not exhausting other in-house avenues of seeking redress.
Meanwhile, as the case was on-going, Maihaja was appointed the Director General of NEMA by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The development emboldened not only Maihaja but his admirers, who felt that they had a listening ear at the centre even if they had issues at the home front.
Pundits believed that since Maihaja had been compensated, and Gaidam had won at the courts, it should have been a win-win situation for both parties and peace would be allowed to reign in the party.
But that was not the case as the chapter of the party wielded the big stick on Maihaja.
Some party loyalists argued that the decision taken by the party officials negated the principle of fair hearing.
One of the party loyalists, Muhammed Gaskanta, who is a former state treasurer of the defunct ANPP and now a card carrying member of the APC, said the decision of the state executive of the party to suspend Maihaja was clearly based on sentiment because they too infringed on the rights of the embattled DG during the last general election.
He alleged that at that time, the party used security operatives to bar them from submitting the DG’s form for expression of interest to contest the 2015 gubernatorial seat.
According to him, the state APC officials simply gave automatic ticket to Governor Gaidam.
“The party officials deserted the party office and refused to collect the form. We rushed back to the party headquarters in Abuja, after the state APC secretary, Abuta, finally denied us opportunity to submit the form.
“We took the option of going to court because nobody listened to us. This is the second time this sort of thing is happening. The first one failed and this second one has equally failed because they don’t have the right to expel him,” he said.
He said that the DG can only be suspended by the party’s national executive, with adequate input from the Board of Trustees (BoT) and not the ward, local government or state officials.
“And even at that, a disciplinary committee must be set up to discuss, investigate and allow Maihaja to defend himself. He is not just a card carrying member but an active member who keeps the party financially alive,” he said.
Also, another APC member, Ali Tanimu, said the DG exhausted all possible avenues to avoid litigations but “the attitude of the party’s officials at the state level pushed him to take the legal action”.
“Those at the party headquarters know how he (Maihaja) was tossed around and prevented from submitting his form for the primary election in 2015.
“We were referred back to the party’s office in Damaturu, but the door was shut. We complained at the party’s headquarters that the state officials deserted the office because they already gave an automatic ticket to the incumbent governor.
“We went to the state party office countless times but nobody was there to receive us. But I assure you that the action taken by the party only spoke the minds of powerful people at the state level,” he said.
But the state APC Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Chilariye countered, arguing that they were not in the right position to accept the forms in relation to the position the NEMA DG wanted to vie for.
“It’s the responsibility of the APC national secretariat to receive his forms and screen him not the state. Nomination forms for president, governors and senators are submitted at the party headquarters not state.
“Besides, we learnt that he (Maihaja) didn’t obtain his form from the APC headquarters, it was someone from Taraba State who gave it to him. He was just crying foul where there was none. Now, after a legal battle with him, a competent court of law vindicated us,” he said.
Similarly, the state secretary of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Bakabe, emphasized that Section 21(D) subsection (V) states that any member who files an action in court of law against the party or any of its offices on any matter relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting the avenues for redress provided for in the party’s constitution shall automatically be expelled.
“No appeal against the expulsion is stipulated in this until the withdrawal of the action from court by the member,” he said.
The party said Maihaja acted against section 21 (A) sub-section 10 of the APC Constitution, which warned members against “filing an action in a court of law against the party or any of its officers on any matter relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting all avenues provided for in the constitution.”
It also claimed that the action of the DG created divisions, disaffection, disunity and lack of loyalty within the ranks and file of the party.
“In view of this therefore, the party expelled Maihaja indefinitely and is hereby advised from this day to desist from parading himself as a member of the party,” he said.
On the possibility of pardon, the state chairman said they could not do that as state party officials.
He said the offense committed by the embattled DG had caused disunity and dragged the name and integrity of the party’s political arrow of the state (Gaidam) in the mud.
“Part of the charges he leveled against the governor was forgery. So, how do you expect us (EXCOS) to pardon him? He can only be pardoned if the national secretariat of the party or the governor asks us to do so,” he said.
How suspensions destabilized the party
Crisis in the Yobe State chapter of the APC is not new and the Maihaja case is just an extension of deep rooted resentments.
In February 2016, the party suspended its EXCOS in Potiskum, Fune and Fika local government areas over what the state party secretary described as insubordination and indiscipline.
The PDP has solid foundation in the three local government areas and because the councils have a lot of supporters during elections, every contender seeks a positive relationship there.
The actual reason for their suspension, according to some pundits, was that the stalwarts engaged in anti party activities during the 2015 elections when they refused to support some candidates purportedly chosen by the state government.
The EXCOS were however pardoned six months later but not without stripping them of their position to ordinary members of the party, a development that many loyalists in the party condemned.
Mal Muhammad Danmasani, a member of APC Youths Vanguard in Potiskum, said that candidate imposition by the APC led administration was responsible for the party’s failure to retain its Senate, House of Representatives and state Assembly seats in the area.
“With or without alleged antiparty activities by the EXCOS, APC would still have lost the seats because there were no primary elections. Candidates were given automatic tickets against what the people expected. So, we were purely defeated by protest votes not anti-party activities. The same outcome should be expected if things do not change,” he said.
He said that the suspension of the EXCOS and stripping them of their positions further weakened the party’s structure.
Political pundits believe that the recent political squabbles within the ruling APC in Yobe is increasing the chances of PDP to conquer more positions in the state.
According to them, if Maihaja, with his intimidation position and his supporters move to another party, it would be difficult for the APC in the state to secure victory in 2019.
“The continued condemnation of the so called Abuja-based or electiontimed-politicians by the powers that be in the state is frustrating party faithful,” one of the pundits, Lawan Muhammed, said.
But the governor within the week announced jumbo packages for the APC faithful in all the local government areas. It remains to be seen if that gesture will calm fraying nerves.