₦airaland Forum

Punishing Alhassan Would Have Polarised Our Party—APC

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday said it decided not to wield the big stick on Hajia Aisha Alhassan, Minister of Women Affairs, over her comments that she will not support President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019 because doing so would have caused sharp division in the party.

The minister, popularly called ‘Mama Taraba’ had pledged her support for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should he decide to contest the 2019 presidential election over her boss, President Buhari.

Many Nigerians thought the party leadership led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun will sanction Alhassan after summoning her to a meeting at the party secretariat in Abuja but that was not to be.

In an exclusive interview with INDEPENDENT, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, said the minister did not commit any offence by stating that she will support one party member against another in the 2019 presidential election.

Saying the party’s actions are always guided by the constitution, Abdullahi said there is no offence the party can accuse the minister of committing by expressing her opinion or stating where she will be politically in the future.

Abdullahi, who also faulted the claim by some Nigerians that the leadership of the party is weak, added that the party cannot expel Alhassan from the party since President Buhari whom she spoke against was magnanimous enough to still retain her as a minister.

“I am surprised that some Nigerians said we didn’t wield the big stick on Mrs. Aisha Alhassan and that what we did was just a slap on the wrist. What did Nigerians expect us to do? To expel her from the party?

“We are the ruling political party and our actions must be guided by the constitution. She said she will not support Mr. President in 2019 if her political mentor decides to contest, under which offence will you categorise a statement like that? Which offence will we say she has committed to warrant her being punished?

“They said we should have wielded the big stick. What does that mean? To expel her from the party? Even the man she said she will not support in 2019 was gracious enough to keep her in government. Why should we as the party weep more than the bereaved? The man who appointed her as a minister has the largeness of heart in spite of what she said to retain her in her position. So, why will we as a party say because of what she said then we should punish her?”

Shedding more light on why the party didn’t sanction the minister, Abdullahi said it would have amounted to another issue entirely if the person the minister vowed to support is a member of the opposition party.

According to him, punishing Alhassan for declaring support for one party member against another would have polarised the party, a situation which the leadership of the party is trying to avoid.

“When she made the statement, she said she will support Atiku Abubakar and not President Muhammadu Buhari. The person she said she is going to support is not a member of the opposition. He is a chieftain of our political party as well as Mr. President whom she said she will not support.

“The moment we now begin to take action against her because she said she will support one party member rather than the other, we are already dividing the party. We have a responsibility to keep the party together. But we did what we have to do, which was to invite her and ask her to clarify her position.

“When she restated her position, we told her the statement you made was inappropriate in the context that you made it because it is capable of creating other situations for the party. If you are going to take position, you should have waited for people to declare their intentions.

“After the aspirants have done that, then you can now decide whom to support. And of course, it means you know full well the implications of your choice. Nothing warrants you making that statement now because it is too early to do so.

“We accused her of indiscretion and she apologised and said she shouldn’t have said so when she did. That was why we made it clear that we were not inviting her because she said she will support Atiku, we invited her because she made the statement at an inappropriate time”, he said.
http://independent.ng/2019-keep-presidential-race-open-south-west-apc-tells-party/

Trash

Buhari is Bokoharam

----El rufai Nasir

This reminds me of the Italian saying that revenge is a dish best served cold. Madam, this is politics so don't relax yet.

Just imagine the senseless and directionless nature of the party in power Of all the burning national issues in Nigeria @ present including the raging national embarrassment of the $26B NNPC scandal,the only thing that concern them is petty party politics.APC must be boot out.

old man like buhary what will he buy with $2600000000

Paperwhite:
Just imagine the senseless and directionless nature of the party in power Of all the burning national issues in Nigeria @ present including the raging national embarrassment of the $26B NNPC scandal,the only thing that concern them is petty party politics.APC must be boot out.

Are you just pained the Conflict was resolved without the APC imploding like PDP