The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to dissolve the state executive committees of the party in Imo and Ogun states, Daily Independent has gathered.

A member of the party’s NWC, who spoke to Daily Independent on condition of anonymity, said the decision was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the caucus meeting of the party on Tuesday.

In Ogun, loyalists of Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, have announced their defection from the APC to the Allied People’s Movement (APM).

Adekunle Akinlade, Amosun’s preferred candidate, is the governorship candidate of the party.

The governor, who is angry with Oshiomhole over the outcome of the primaries, said he would remain in APC to contest the senatorial election in 2019 while ensuring the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The governor, who said that he would not support the governorship candidate of the APC, Dapo Abiodun, said aggrieved party members who defected to APM had his blessings.

The same scenario played out in Imo State where Uche Nwosu, the son-in-law to Governor Rochas Okorocha, dumped the APC for the Action Alliance (AA).

Nwosu, who lost the APC ticket to Senator Hope Uzodinma, blamed the loss on the party’s leadership.

Okorocha, who has also given Nwosu his blessings, has moved his loyalists en masse from the APC to AA.

Our source said the party has resolved to take the actions after exhausting all means to placate the aggrieved stakeholders who have rebuffed all entreaties, including setting up a reconciliation committee in all the six geo-political zones.

According to him, instead of punishing the governors through sanction or expulsion, a move that was not supported by majority of the governors elected on the party’s platform, the party leadership decided the best option was to dissolve the executive committees as was done in Kwara State chapter of the party some months ago.

He said through the anti-party activities of the governors, the Allied People’s Movement (APM) and the Action Alliance (AA) were technically the ruling parties in Ogun and Imo states, respectively.

“Once the state excos are dissolved, new ones that don’t owe their allegiance to the governors will be set up. Nobody will tell the governors to leave as they will quit the party on their own accord,” the source said.

He added: “These governors are engaged in anti-party activities which are capable of undermining the party’s chances in the 2019 elections.

“Technically, the APM is the ruling party in Ogun State while the AA is the ruling party in Imo State. The governors claim they are still in APC but they have directed all their foot soldiers to leave the party.

“We also have it on good authority that they are funding the parties, yet they are claiming allegiance to President Buhari. That is not acceptable.”

In a related development, the Missions of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) have warned against any sort of violence or intimidation during the 2019 general elections, saying there would be consequences for state-sponsored violence.

The missions in particular may have also decided to place a visa ban on some key security and political actors as a means to checkmate them from getting involved in violence or rigging during the elections.

•Excerpted from a Daily Independent report

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