The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, had continued to defy the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to refund nomination fees to aspirants who stepped down at the party’s convention on March 26.
The party has yet to comply with President Muhammadu Buhari’s order, issued four months ago, to refund nomination fees to aspirants who stepped down during the All Progressives Congress (APC) March 26 consensus National Convention.
Investigations also revealed that the party is indebted to members who conducted congresses (from the ward to the National Convention) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The party has also failed to pay staff salaries as due over the last two months. June’s salary was paid in mid-July, and workers only received their July pay last Friday, as per the payment schedule on the 25th of every month.
President Buhari, at the March 24 meeting with eight national chairmanship aspirants, persuaded them to step down for a consensus candidate, promising to refund their nomination fees.
Each aspirant for party offices paid between N20 and N2.5 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms, depending on the office contested. Investigations revealed that the party garnered over N700 million from approximately 170 individuals.
It was also learnt that the party generated over N3 billion from members who purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms to contest for tickets ahead of the 2023 general elections.
However, despite the substantial receipts, affected party members are complaining about non-compliance with the presidential directive.
Other members who may soon launch an attack on the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) include those involved in conducting the screening and party primaries that produced candidates for the 2023 election.
Aside from the non-payment of their allowances, it was gathered that the members are irked by the NWC’s decision to slash the yet-to-be-paid allowances by 40 per cent.
