The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has ruled that all State Congresses conducted last Saturday across the country by non-accredited committees were null and void.

The party insisted on Sunday that there were no parallel congresses as reported in the media.

But at the close of the nationwide exercise on Saturday, reports from Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Bauchi, Abia, Rivers and Cross River among others showed that parallel congresses were conducted depending on the number of political factions in each State.

The party also ordered the last-minute suspension of congress in Oyo State due to alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exercise.

Secretary to the party’s Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John Akpanudoedehe, however, told The Nation in an interview on Sunday that only congresses conducted by accredited Congress Committees by the party were recognised.

He maintained that there was no parallel congress anywhere, insisting that any congress conducted outside the published guideline cannot stand.

“Anything (congress) outside the guideline is an exercise in futility. Anything that we (Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) did not authorize is not permissible.

“We are a structured and a well-organised party. We gave notice to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). We submitted the guideline and the list of committee members to conduct the congresses to INEC. If you go outside that arrangement, it is an exercise in futility.”

The Chairman of CECPC, Governor Mai Mala Buni, in a statement through his Director-General Press and Media Affairs, Mamman Mohammed on Friday warned that the party will not condone deliberate acts of sabotage by anyone or group intended to ridicule the process and outcome of the Congress.

Akpanudoedehe on Saturday after the exercise, adjudged the Congress as successful, rating its conduct as high as 99 percent.

He bluntly refused to accept there were States where parallel congresses took place.

Source:- The Nation

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