The Chairmen of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 19 northern states and Abuja have demanded the resignation of the party’s deputy nation chairman and national secretary.
The two are Mr Boss Mustapha, Deputy National Chairman, and Sen. Shuaibu Lawal, the National Secretary.
The chairmen’s demand is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Kaduna on Sunday.
The communiqué was jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Northern States Stakeholders forum, Messrs Mohammed Soba and Ibrahim Orume, respectively.
Soba is the current Chairman of the party in Kaduna State, while Orume is ACN’s Chairman in Nasarawa State.
“We condemn the manner in which Bafarawa was frustrated out of the party and further demand the immediate resignation of Mustapha and Lawal from office for their contributions in making the ACN very unpopular in the North by orchestrating deliberate campaign of calumny and blackmail against prominent ACN leaders from the North.’’
The meeting accused the leaders of misleading the party into a political outing that witnessed its poor performance in the entire North-East and North-West geo-political zones in the 2011 general elections.
The forum also criticised the query issued Bafarawa by ACN National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, for alleged anti-party activities without reference to recognised organs of the party.
It described the resignation of Bafarawa as a major setback to the party at a time when it was struggling to have a national outlook and acceptability.
“The North is being deliberately short-changed in the ACN political equation in order to weaken our political base and make us vulnerable to further political assault ahead of 2015, which we view as expensive and reckless political misadventure.”
They threatened to also demand for explanation on the dismal loss recorded by the party in entire South-West in the 2011 Presidential Election in spite of its overwhelming strength in the zone.
Mustapha and Lawal could not be reached for their reaction to the position of the stakeholders and calls made to their phones were also unsuccessful.