APC chieftain clears air on party’s nat’l sec vacancy

The North East Secretary of the APC, Abubakar Sadiq Ajiya, has said both Yobe and Borno states have equal rights to produce the party’s national secretary.

Ajiya, who said this yesterday in Abuja, added that the seat of the APC national scribe was limited to Borno and Yobe states.

The position of APC national secretary became vacant following the emergence of Mai Mala Buni as Governor of Yobe State after the March 9, 2019, governorship elections.

Ajiya, who was reacting to a letter by the party’s state chairmen which appeared in some national newspapers, said they had the right to express their views but insisted that there was no crisis in the party.

He said, “What we have is a gap in communication and I am pleased to tell you that as family members, that seat is limited to Borno and Yobe and key stakeholders from the two states will meet soon to settle themselves. While they do that, this is a state caucus, and then we will go into zonal caucus and that involves zonal leadership whereby everyone will seat down and discuss.”

He said Yobe rightly had an interest to see that someone from the state took over following

Gov. Buni’s resignation from the position, whereas Borno also had someone, Bulama Waziri, who was very capable and who had been a politician known to the party, having contested the same position in the 2018 APC national convention.

He, however, said the APC needed someone who knew the structure of the party, its dynamic culture and the change mantra in order to raise the party higher both at the top and at the grassroots.

Ajiya further said, “We hope that the caucus from Borno and Yobe will come up with a decisive candidate within that axis and then they will communicate to us. Then, we have a zonal meeting before we eventually have a North East executive meeting of critical stakeholders.”