ALPHA NEWS NG learnt that Bilal resigned from the party and joined the Peoples Democratic Party, after he was accused of financial misconduct and gross violation of the constitution.
Aisha, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari and Nuhu Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are among the All Progressives Congress power brokers who influenced the removal of the state chairman of the party in Adamawa, Ibrahim Bilal.
SaharaReporters learnt on Monday that following his defeat at the APC governorship primary election in Adamawa, Ribadu, backed by Aisha Bubari, moved to remove Bilal as the state party chairman.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Bilal resigned from the party and joined the Peoples Democratic Party, after he was accused of financial misconduct and gross violation of the constitution.
It was reported that the Adamawa State executive committee of the APC removed Bilal over alleged anti-party activities.
Following Bilal’s removal, his deputy, Ismaila Tadawus, was sworn in as the new chairman of the party, with 24 out of 36 officers appending their signatures.
On Monday, the APC State Working Committee (SWC) passed a vote of no confidence on Bilal after raising several allegations of corruption and anti-party activities against him.
The SWC, believed to be acting a script by Ribadu, and Aisha Buhari’s brother, Mahmood Halilu, popularly known as Modi, accused Bilal of collecting huge sums of money from governorship aspirants who participated in the primary, among other infractions.
This is coming at a time when a Federal High court in Yola is expected to deliver judgment in a suit filed by Ribadu, challenging the emergence of Aisha Ahmed Binani as the governorship candidate of the party.
However, reacting to the move to remove him, Bilal had initially resisted, saying “I remain APC Chairman in Adamawa State. It needs restating not to mislead the uninformed that only the National Working Committee, of the APC, reserves the power in a dispute or crisis to remove an elected chairman of the party. Our party guidelines are clear on this issue.
“While we await the dust to settle on my purported removal as chairman, I am encouraged by the outpouring of Goodwill from party stakeholders who have said this grave desecration of the rule of law will never be allowed to prevail.
“I want to reassure our party stakeholders to disregard the actions of motley crowd, of enemies within, acting the script of the opposition to plunge the party into crisis, at the verge of a crucial elections, that their actions has further reawakened the consciousness of party faithfuls to be vigilant.
“This charade by a few persons, who acting like bandits broke into our serene party Secretariat to do what they did, will obviously not stand. We must never allow them to truncate the tenets of internal democracy anchored on the rule of law.”
SaharaReporters obtained the APC SWC’s release detailing the allegations raised against Bilal.
The committee said, “Our resolve to take this line of action follows the failure of the chairman to respond to the allegations of gross misconduct leveled against him as provided for in the constitution. We view his failure to respond to the weighty allegations as acceptance of guilt.
“On the 26 August 2022, twenty five members of the state executive committee, issued a formal complaint to three executive officers of the party over constitutional violations which constitute gross misconduct in line with the spirit of fair hearing as provided by the constitution.
“The persons involved are the chairman of the party, Alh. Ibrahim Bilal, the secretary of the party, Mr. Raymond D. Chidama and the treasurer of the party Alh. Yahya Hammanjulde. They were given seven day grace to respond to the allegations which elapsed on 1st September 2022.
“The secretary and the treasurer acknowledged receipt of our petition and promised to respond to us soon. But as at this day, the chairman of the party refused to respond to the grave allegations in other to clear his name. In fact, he has even refused to come to Yola from his Abuja base where he has permanently relocated.”
“Our complaint against the chairman; 1. The chairman has through dubious means deceived the aspirants of the party and collected huge sums of monies from them running into hundreds of millions of naira. 2. The chairman sold many vehicles belonging to the party and did not remit a dime to the secretariat.
“3. The chairman has shrouded the finances of the secretariat in secrecy and has been running the affairs of the party like a personal investment with no checks and balances and without auditing since he came on board. 4. The chairman has converted some properties of the secretariat into personal use.
“5. The chairman because of his nonchalant attitude to the party didn’t attend the gubernatorial primaries election; he wasn’t at the venue throughout. 6. He is living in stupendous opulence beyond his legitimate earnings enabling him to have a number of choice properties in Yola and Abuja.
“The chairman bought an eight seater bus at the cost of N29 million without consultation or due approval of the exco or any organ of the party as stipulated in the constitution…it is on this premise that we the concerned and discerning exco desirous of restoring the lost glory of the party felt that we must put a stop to this descent before the chairman under whose care the party lost power in the state in 2019 to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) administers the final death knell on it and hence this resolve.
“From our investigations and findings, we are able to ascertain that, Bilal has misappropriated huge amount of resources belonging to the party at the detriment of its growth and welfare of its members to such extent that while the chairman is swimming in opulence and living ostentatious lifestyle, other party excos have become over pauperized and clutching for life support.
“Going by the gravity of the offences committed by the chairman, we hereby invoke the above article to pass a vote of no confidence on him and hand over the case to relevant security agencies for the various infractions he committed.”