Ahead of the State Congresses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for July and August, a fresh crisis has hit the Katsina State chapter of the party.
The members of the State Caretaker Committee of the PDP are up in arms against the chairman, whom they accuse of denying members interested in vying for vacant positions access to the relevant forms.
Spokesperson for the party members, Hon. Ibrahim Abdullahi Tafashiya, who addressed a press conference at the PDP National Secretariat yesterday, said the party was at risk of losing additional ground.
Since the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP set up the current Care-Taker Committee on April 17, 2024, its chairman has kept other committee members in the dark, He said.
Tafashiya said, “There is a disconnect between some of us as members of the Care-Taker Committee and the Chairman, Alh. Musa A. Karim, for reasons best known to him.
“The Katsina State PDP is in jeopardy as a result of the maladministration of its affairs by this leadership.
“Since the release of timetable and guidelines for the 2024 Ward, Local Government, and State Congresses by the National Headquarters of the party, certain proactive procedural measures should have been put in place for the exercise to be successful, but nothing has been done.
“Since the period preceding the 2023 general election, there has been division among the ranks of leadership and followership of the party in Katsina State, and more especially, almost all the 2023 Campaign Management Council that worked tirelessly during campaign exercise were at the receiving end of such maltreatment.
“And the Caretaker Committee Chairman, who chose to align himself with a particular interest group, did nothing to reconcile the divisions within the PDP in Katsina State.
“It is wiser for all of us to note that the first activity preceding party congress to elect officials of the party is always the membership drive and update of membership register before the sales of forms, which was not done even at this time.
“Specifically, these issues relate to the 361 wards, 34 Local Governments and 39 state exco aspirants for Katsina State. We have collated about 7,101 members willing to purchase the forms so as to participate in the upcoming congresses but have been deprived access to purchase the forms.
“We are here at the National Headquarters only to be informed that the forms are with the Care-Taker Committee Chairman about 3 weeks ago.
“We are therefore appealing for the intervention of the National Working Committee (NWC) to resolve the matter for the progress, development, and success of the PDP.”
The party chieftain further said, “As you might have been aware, the sale of the forms draws closer, i.e. Wednesday 19th June, 2024. There was a delegation of some aspirants from Katsina, Dutsinma, Malumfashi, Funtua, Mashi, Kankia, and Katsina Local Government Areas that went to Katsina State PDP Headquarters to purchase forms but met a deserted Secretariat with no official of the party to attend to them and also held a press conference, where they gave a graphic account and declared in the media, on camera, how the entire State Caretaker Committee flee the Secretariat in their bid to hijack the forms to favour one single individual and to evade selling same to other aspirants.
“While we were here in Abuja at Wadata Plaza to purchase the forms, we could not meet anybody, which necessitated us to write and forward complaints to the appropriate party authorities to take proper action on the matter.”
He enjoined the national leadership of the party at the national level to expedite action on resolving all the issues in order not to allow the situation to degenerate further.
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