ANPP leaders shelve peace meeting
From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja
HOPES of an early resolution of the crisis engulfing the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) have again been dashed, with the shelving by its Board of Trustees (BOT) and National Executive Council of their joint meeting scheduled for today.
A statement by the BOT's secretary, Alhaji Gombe Magaji, said the decision to put off the meeting was informed by the separate factional NEC meetings held at the weekend.
The board of trustees, Magaji stressed, could no longer hold the meeting since the two factions had gone their separate ways to hold their meetings.
Two NEC meetings were held at the weekend. The National Chairman, Chief Don Etiebet, headed the one held in Maiduguri; the Borno State capital while the deputy national chairman (North) Gen. Jeremiah Useni chaired that of Abuja.
The factions came out with different positions to move the party forward.
The Etiebet group, which had in attendance more than 20 of the party's 26 senators; nine out of the 22 constitutionally recognised NEC members; 24 state chairmen of the party and other NEC members, restated its implicit confidence in his leadership. However, the Useni group, apparently retained its earlier position to suspend Etiebet as the chairman.
The Maiduguri meeting, as a part of its resolutions called for a joint BOT/NEC meeting in Abuja today. This, the group said, was because the BOT had no constitutional powers to summon a joint NEC/BOT meeting.
Though it said it appreciated the intervention of the board of trustees in the festering crisis, the faction noted that in its attempt to intervene, the BOT in its recommendations wanted to set aside the constitution of the party.
In its resolution, the sitting deplored the growing indiscipline within the party and directed the organs of the party at all levels to take immediate disciplinary steps under the constitution to check acts of indiscipline in the party.
Also, the leadership of the party at all levels were enjoined to be firm in the enforcement of discipline.
