SOUTH CPC LEADERS KICK OVER EXPELLED MEMBERS

Leaders of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) from the South-South, South-East and South-West zones have kicked against expulsion of southern leaders of the party by its National Executive Committee (NEC).

The leaders in a communiqué issued in Enugu at the weekend and signed by Enugu State Chairman of CPC, Mr. Emeka Okafor, a lawyer, said the expulsion notice published in some national dailies was laughable, claiming that the NEC was illegally constituted and structured.

The leaders therefore, said the action of the NEC was repugnant, obnoxious and objectionable as it transcends constitutional limitations on its power and invades the sphere of the party's constitution to protect and preserve all official control, abuse or manipulation.

'It has also placed on the front burner the claim by the respected and eminent southern leaders of CPC, who recently dissociated themselves from the ill-advised, ill-motivated and phoney suit filed by CPC against the election of President Goodluck Jonathan, that CPC as a political party wallows in self-inflicted and self-provoked confusion and is consequently sinking deeper into a quagmire of perplexity, because of not knowing the way out of its mounting difficulties engendered by a NEC that can best be described as a lethal virus.

The leaders said that following the provocative action of the 'impostor NEC' of their party, they convened a meeting in Enugu where they resolved 'that the action of the NEC of CPC in initiating the expulsion is a violation of the provisions of Article 8, Section 31 (iv) of CPC's constitution, which states without ambiguity 'that every member shall have the right of fair hearing in all matters affecting him with regard to discipline''.

Since the eminent southern leaders were not given an opportunity to defend themselves, they argued that the action of the NEC in expelling the southern leaders of the party was therefore an exercise in futility and consequently a nullity.

They also resolved:
•That since there are ongoing moves by concerned CPC leaders nation-wide to pass a vote of no confidence on the present NEC because of its lack of focus, direction and pragmatism needed to move the party forward, the NEC lacks the needed legitimate cohesion and moral fibre to initiate policy measures in any respect at this point in time.

•That the NEC as currently constituted is a cabal of only three persons, namely: Buba Galadima (national secretary), Sule Hamma (who doubles as a BOT member and a member of NEC), and Alhaji Mustapha, deputy national chairman who was the personal assistant to Buba Galadima before Galadima became national secretary.

•That the office of National Legal Adviser was zoned to the South-East and that Abubakar Malami, who parades himself as the party's National Legal Adviser, is an impostor foisted on the party by the cabal.

•That it was the corrosive and surreptitious agenda of this cabal with strong destabilizing interests that polarized the CPC and decimated the ranks of its membership.