Olusanjo Olurebi, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the United Kingdom (UK), has asked Umar Ganduje, the national chairman of the party, to cancel the congress held on June 29 in the European country.
In a letter addressed to Ganduje through Axis Solicitors Limited, Olurebi alleged procedural anomalies and disenfranchisement.
Olurebi said members of the party learnt about the election through a newspaper article in Nigeria, contradicting previous communications that information would be provided by the interim committee.
“As a legitimate member of the APC UK, our client and several members of the party in the UK are completely disenfranchised,” the letter reads.
“As a consequence, our client has been denied his legitimate right to participate and vote in the congress of the party’s chapter to which he belongs as a fully paid-up member.
“Similarly, other members have been deprived of their legitimate right to participate in the election, which is the basis of democracy and the democratic party (APC).”
Olurebi criticised the interim committee for failing to call a general meeting of members and stakeholders, citing personal grievances between the chairman and the secretary as the root cause of the dysfunction.
“The interim committee, inaugurated and put in place at the Central London meeting on January 13, 2024, has failed to execute the functions that it was charged to perform before culminating in a congress date,” Olurebi said.
“They have refused to call a general meeting of members and stakeholders to harmonise the party for over six months due to personal grievances between the chairman and secretary, jeopardizing the collective interests of members in the UK.
“Furthermore, the interim chairman is contesting for the chairmanship position at the proposed congress, after manipulating the process and using his office to propagate his campaign, which is unjust, unfair, undemocratic, and against the party’s constitution of level playing grounds for all contestants.”
The APC member said the committee also “arranged for a stakeholders’ meeting on June 27, 2024” without giving notice to the majority of the members.
“Only a small number of the members were made aware due to their support for their candidate. This is inappropriate, disproportionate, unjust, and not in line with the constitution of the party,” he said.
“The interim chairman has upturned the mandate of the interim committee set up in January by creating another local organizing committee for himself and his group to take over and organize the congress on June 29, 2024, which is totally absurd.”
Olurebi asked Ganduje to cancel the “illegitimate congress” because it “does not represent the interests of most party members”.
The APC member also asked Ganduje to “dissolve and dismiss the current interim committee immediately and establish a new
committee”.
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