How peace can return to APC, by chieftain-

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross Rivers State, Chief Goddie Akpama has said the dissolution of the fractionalised State Working Committee (SEC) in the state is the only solution to its crisis.

He also called for the setting up of a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party in the state,

Akampa, in a letter to the Chairman, Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CEONCPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni in Abuja, said legal option has failed to reslove the leadership crisis.

He urged the National Caretaker Committee to adopt President Mohammad Buhari’s recommendation in resolving the national leadership crisis at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which gave birth to the Buni-led Caretaker Committee.

Akampa, who is a former State IPAC Chairman, noted that since the emergence of the national caretaker committee, all contending groups in the APC have embraced peace, and have put the interest of the party and the nation above their personal interest. But, he lamented that the reverse is the case in Cross Rivers.

The APC leader noted that the crisis  has not only fractionalised the party, it has denied the party and members many political and electioneering gains.

Akpama said: “We are all witnesses to the fact that the Cross River State chapter of the APC has been bedevilled, for years now, by crisis of leadership, leading to the emergence of two contending factions struggling to take charge of affairs of the parties secretariat.

“Both factions have held tenaciously to their positions to the extent that the gulf within the APC in the state is widening with every passing day with no internal solution in sight.

“In fact, the leadership crisis that has held the APC down in the state has defied any court solution as the main actors have refused to let go any of their grounds.”

He blamed the defeat the party suffered during last year’s general elections and the March 28 local government election in the state to intraparty crisis despite fielding  known political super heavy weight in the state.

He added: “Despite parading most of the known political super heavy weight in the state, coupled with its members holding key public offices in a federal government controlled by the APC, yet the party lost all but one of the elective positions to the PDP.”

Akampa also said, “despite the peace and oneness that is witnessed at the national level of the party, the APC in the state is still fictionalised with both factions laying claim to the leadership of the party in Cross River State.”

“Derived from the forgoing, I do urge the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee of the APC to invoke the provisions of the Constitution of the party, and dissolve the Excos/ State Working Committees ( SWC) of all factions laying claim to the leadership of the APC in the state.

“This call is predicted on the fact that the contending members from all factions have refused to give peace a chance and work for the unity and progress of the party despite many attempts and meetings to get them to function in one direction.

“I, therefore, urge the National Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Committee to immediately set up a Caretaker Committee for the APC in Cross River State.

Members of the Caretaker Committee should be men and women of integrity, who have demonstrated credible neutrality in the face of the crisis that has rocked the APC in the state over the years,” he advised.