THE national leadership of the All Progressives Congress is in a dilemma over whether to punish some of its high-ranking members for anti-party activities or not, investigations carried out by SUNDAY PUNCH have revealed.

It was gathered that while the National Chairman of the party, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, is favourably disposed to punishing them, some members of the National Working Committee of the party felt the party should tarry a little.

Among those being considered for punishment are the Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha.

It was also learnt that the case of the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, was not given attention by the national leadership of the party since the governor was said to have stopped his criticism of Oshiomhole and his team.

Sources close to the party also said that the Oshiomhole-led NWC was constrained by the disposition of President Muhammadu Buhari to the aggrieved members of the party who had gone to court to challenge the positions taken by the NWC concerning primaries conducted in their states.

Recall that associates of both Amosun and Okorocha recently defected from the APC to opposition parties, though the two governors still claim that they will work for President Buhari’s re-election.

Though the President has yet to speak on the actions of these governors who are close to him concerning the defection of their loyalists from the APC, the President has expressed support for their determination to seek redress in court over their anger relating to the governorship primaries in their states.

A source close to the party leadership said, “We are actually in a dilemma on how to address the matter concerning these governors.

“These governors are close to the President and the President has shown tactical support for them with his pronouncement that aggrieved members were free to seek redress in court. We are not against that but we are against the incessant attacks on Oshiomhole and the leadership of the party.

“We need to also know that the support these governors are giving to their loyalists to deride the party and its leadership is bad; it is anti-party in nature and can harm the party in 2019.  We need to curb them.”

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the party had never said any of its members should not go to court over party primaries or issues affecting them and the party.

Rather, he said the party merely asked its members to exploit constitutional provisions in resolving crises before approaching the court.

-PUNCH

BE

– Dec. 9, 2018 @ 14:35 GMT |