By Umaru Abdulai ,
Minna
Barely few weeks to the first set of elections slated for this year, the crisis bedeviling the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State has taken a new dimension.
Already, the leadership has set up a committee to investigate a chieftain of the party and member of its Board of Trustees (BOT), Alhaji Abubakar Magaji.
Magaji, one of the founding members of the party in Niger state, believed to be a leading political figure in the Niger-South senatorial zone, was ordered to be investigated over anti-party activities and other sundry issues yesterday (Thursday) evening.
Secretary of the party in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Limam, disclosed this in Minna.
He said that the decision was the outcome of the State Working Committee (SEC) meeting which met the previous day (Wednesday).
Magaji, according to him, was being investigated because he reportedly made derogatory statements about Governor Abubakar Sani Bello at a meeting chaired by the governor himself on Monday.
“At the State Working Committee meeting of the party held on January 16, 2019, the derogatory statement – Who is party – made by Alhaji Abubakar Magaji (Ndaji Lapai) at a party meeting chaired by the leader of the party in Niger State, His Excellency Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello on 14th January 2019 was deliberated upon”, he said.
His words: “This derogatory statement in the view of the party (APC) was embarrassing and has brought it to hatred, contempt, ridicule and disrepute, which offends Article 21(A)(ii) of the party’s constitution 2014 (as amended).
“The state Working Committee therefore has set up or constituted a five-man disciplinary committee vested with the responsibility of investigating the matter and recommend appropriate sanctions”.
Mohammed Luman however did not mention the names of disciplinary committee members or how long it was given to complete the assignment, while efforts to reach Alhaji Abubakar Magaji proved abortive as all his cell phones were switched off as at the time of filing the report.
Abubakar Magaji was a founding father of the APC in the state and at the national level. He was among the first set of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in Niger state that left the platform for the APC in the state.