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I am ashamed of Useni, says Etiebet
By Felix Ofou (Lagos)
and Chuks Ehirim
(Abuja)
Although
he has been restored to his exalted position as All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP) National Chairman for now, Don Etiebet is still licking the wounds of
his purported ouster in a palace coup staged by his rival faction led by Jerry
Useni.
He
has described as “shameful” efforts by the former Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) Minister to take over the reins of the party leadership through
“unconstitutional means” and picked holes in Useni’s claim
that he has the loyalty of 32 of the 36 state party chairmen.
Nothing
could be further from the truth, Etiebet insisted, and challenged him to
produce evidence to back up the claim.
The
ANPP has been embroiled in a crisis of confidence, resulting in a split, with
Etiebet and Useni leading separate factions. However, respite came for Etiebet
after the Governors’ Forum and ANPP board of trustees (BOT) Chairman
Augustus Aikhomu backed his group.
Etiebet
said in an interview that his leadership had never been in contention, and that
Useni orchestrated the claim, using forged documents. “The resolution,
which they keep referring to, is only that of ANPP state chairmen and some NEC
(National Executive Council) members. That’s what the document says.
It’s not of NEC”, he explained.
Only
the NEC has powers to suspend or remove him office, he insisted, and that since
a meeting of the body was not duly convened, the purported suspension is not
valid.
“According
to the constitution of our party, the national chairman, who is me, is the only
person entitled to call a NEC meeting. Failing in that, a decision of two
thirds of all NEC members in writing and requesting a meeting must be sent to
the national secretariat 14 days before the proposed date”, he stated.
Meanwhile,
in a shift from his initial antagonistic predisposition to the BOT, Useni has
said he would abide by its instructions to resolve the conflict.
He
told newsmen in Abuja that he would no longer rebel over orders given by the
BOT to the party members.
But
he declined to answer questions on the crisis, insisting that his new posture
is in keeping with the directive by the trustees that the factions should
desist from making public pronouncements likely to fan the trouble.
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