Some Concerned citizens in Yobe state have raised alarm over a report that the Yobe state APC leadership is currently forcefully collecting membership registration cards from its members in the state ahead of the governorship primaries scheduled for end of this month.
This is contained in a statement by Musa Ali Baba the Convener of the concerned citizens forum issued to newsmen.
It said an earlier plan by some mischievous leaders of the party to tout the Secretary to the State Government as the party’s preferred candidate even without going to the party Primaries has failed woefully as both members and other governorship aspirants exposed and rejected the plan.
This is certainly an unfortunate trajectory in the history and traditional transition from an outgoing administration to an incoming one which is usually done in the state without any rancor.
Many party members especially at the grassroots level were asked to surrender their membership cards without any accompanying reason, a situation which has raised questions among the ranks of the party.
Since the development is coming just a few days to the party primaries and with the rejection and condemnation of the name of the SSG Baba Malam Wali, the suspicion is heightened as part of another grand plan to impose an unpopular candidate by giving the seized membership cards to only their so-called loyal members to vote if it finally turns out that the primaries should be ‘direct’ as against ‘consensus.’
If our suspicion is correct, then the seizure of the membership cards will translate to daylight robbery, imposition, disenfranchisement and denial on the electorate to bring in a candidate of their choice as the next governor of the state.
We wish to call on the national leadership of the party not to allow this wicked act to be perpetrated in Yobe State and also implore our members not to surrender their membership cards to anyone no matter what.
Should we discover such miscreants collecting or seizing the cards from any member, we’ll seek legal redress.