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AD Convention: 5,000 delegates to storm Lagos,
Wednesday
•Akinfenwa faction stays away
VINCENT EGUNYANGA, Abuja and ABIODUN
FELIX, Osogbo
ABOUT 5000
delegates of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) will storm Onikan Stadium, Lagos,
on Wednesday for the party’s fresh national convention even as the Mojisoluwa
Akinfenwa faction described it as unconstitutional and vowed to stop it.
Chairman of the party’s convention
committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan, told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that the party
is set to conduct a free and fair convention.
He said the 5,000 delegates from all the
36 states and Abuja will be in Lagos for the event.
Alhaji Hassan disclosed that
transportation and accommodation of delegates alone will cost the party N12.5
million, excluding allowances, entertainment and other expenses.
He further disclosed that the zoning
formula remains that the party’s national chairmanship is zoned to the South
West, national secretary to the North Central while the post of national
treasurer is zoned to the South East.
He said national chairmanship aspirants
will pay N100,000 nomination fee while other national offices will attract
N20,000.
Alhaji Hassan warned Afenifere, the
pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation to stay away from the AD, stressing that
the party is a national party and not for the Yoruba alone.
In a statement made available to newsmen
in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, factional national financial secretary of AD,
Mallam Rafiu Salau, described the proposed convention as illegal and an exercise
in futility.
Salau urged all members of the party
nationwide to shun the convention, saying the "Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) through its counsel had made it clear that the commission
would not attend or recognise the proposed convention."
According to him, "the Federal High Court
sitting in Lagos has restrained the proposed convention to be conducted by INEC
and any group from holding the convention pending the determination of a suit
filed by a faction of the party before it."
He stressed further that "any action that
would be taken contrary to the court directive is to be considered as null and
void," adding that "since July 29, 2004, the court has averred that the status
quo ante should remain until the ruling over this case".
The Akinfenwa faction chieftain also
faulted the National Convention Committee led by Hassan, saying the convening of
a fresh convention is illegal.
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