All seems not to be well with the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Niger state as defection by key party members continue unabated with the latest being the resignation from the party of a Member, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and Assistant Secretary of the North Central Directorate of Mobilization of the Campaign Council, Ambassador Ahmed Musa Ibeto.
Ibeto, a Former Deputy Governor and Former Nigeria Ambassador to South Africa, dumped the party on Tuesday, sighting among other things, lack of unity of purpose among party members and stakeholders as his reason for dumping the ruling party, he joined in 2015 from the People Democratic Party (PDP)
The Former in a letter of resignation dated February 3rd, 2023 and addressed to the Chairman All Progressive Congress (APC), Ibeto Central Ward, Magama local government, Niger State, said he is not only leaving the party, he is resigning his membership of the APC presidential campaign council and Secretary of the North Central Directorate of Mobilization of the Tinubu/Shettima campaign Council.
Parts of the letter he personally signed, a copy which was made available to newsmen in Minna reads
“Mr. Chairman with my many years of active participation in politics, and as a former party administrator, an elected official into many political offices, both state and National, I have come to this conclusion for many reasons, chiefly among which are the absence of unity of purpose among party members and stakeholders occasioned by conflicts, unending litigations, internal threats and counter threats of anti-party activities.
“lack of genuine reconciliation coupled with lack of commitments and dedications to the success of the party by many stakeholders for these oblivious reasons, I concluded that I can not continue to be a member of the party”.
The four paragraph letter further reads;
“by this resignation, I eased to be a member of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Assistant Secretary of the North Central Directorate of Mobilization and all organs and committees of the party”.
It could be recalled that Ahmed Ibeto, as a sitting Deputy Governor, left the People Democratic Party in 2015 after he lost the Party Governorship ticket and joined the APC, and was later appointed Nigeria Ambassador to South Africa by President Mohammadu Buhari in 2016, a position he resigned to contest the party Senatorial primary for Niger North Senatorial District.
All attempts to get the reaction of the state party Chairman, Alhaji Haliru Zakeri Jikantoro could not yield any result as all his mobile phone lines were switched off, but a Chieftain of the party and former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in the state Jonathan Vatsa admitted that though the reasons given by Ibeto for dumping the party can not be swept away, they are not redeemable.
According to Vatsa “quitting the party is not the solution to the problem, after all no political party without it own challenges but we must remain to manage the situation”.
Meanwhile PDP Campaign Council in Niger State in a statement by the spokesman, Yahaya Mohammed has described the decision of the former deputy governor as a welcomes development and urged him to come back home and join the PDP in the rescue mission.
