Party Turmoil Rocks Bauchi! APM Faction Ousts Chairman, Installs Interim Leader Amid Deepening Crisis

A significant leadership crisis has engulfed the Bauchi State chapter of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), following the announcement by a faction of its executives regarding the removal of the party’s chairman, Auwal Isah. The executives cited alleged constitutional breaches and a profound loss of confidence in his leadership as primary reasons for his ousting. Mohammed Nasir Yahaya, who claimed to be the party’s secretary and led a group of executives at a press conference on Wednesday, detailed the accusations against Isah, which included financial mismanagement, poor record-keeping, a failure to operate an official party bank account, and the unconstitutional handling of party affairs.

In the wake of Isah’s removal, Yahaya announced that an emergency meeting of the executives had resulted in the installation of Hon. Nasiru Nuru Marafa as the interim chairman of the party in the state. The crisis, according to Yahaya, was precipitated by the recent defection of Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed and other government officials to the APM. This development allegedly sparked disagreements over the composition and control of the party’s leadership structure, creating internal strife.

Yahaya further alleged that Auwal Isah, who had been chairman since 2018, had unconstitutionally altered the names of members of the state executive committee. He claimed that Isah introduced individuals who were not original members of the party but were loyal to the state government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), having joined alongside the governor. “We have some internal crisis whereby our chairman, Auwal Isah, changed the full names of the executive committee and brought in others who were not in the party but were loyalists of the government and PDP organs who came with the governor when he returned to the APM,” Yahaya stated.

The aggrieved members, Yahaya noted, had submitted complaints and petitions to the party’s national leadership regarding these alleged changes, but their concerns reportedly remained unresolved. A contentious arrangement was also brought to light, under which the state government allegedly sought to control 70 per cent of the party’s leadership positions, leaving original members with only 30 per cent. While the existing party leadership reportedly agreed to this proposal and established a harmonisation committee to reconcile the interests of both old and new members, the committee met for only four days before its activities were suspended indefinitely, leaving the harmonisation process incomplete.

Yahaya explained the stalled reconciliation efforts, stating, “We formed a committee for harmonisation, but it sat for only four days before the meeting was suspended until further notice. There was no harmonisation that took place.” The aggrieved executives later learned of plans for a stakeholders’ meeting, which they claimed had not been properly communicated through official party structures. Consequently, they formally wrote to the national leadership of the APM and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), informing them that they were unaware of any properly convened meeting that could legitimately produce changes to the party’s leadership.

In an attempt to resolve the escalating crisis, the factional secretary also communicated with Governor Mohammed, who reportedly assured them that the matter would be resolved amicably. The governor urged party members to maintain peace and prevent the disagreements from escalating, especially with future general elections on the horizon. “He told us that since we are in the APM, he knew we wanted our party to win the general elections. He did not want the internal problem to go beyond our control, so we maintained law and order to calm everything down,” Yahaya recounted.

Yahaya also claimed that, among the 28 members of the party’s state executive committee, Isah was allegedly the only one actively involved in the APM’s activities in the state before the recent political realignments. The faction has formally communicated its decision regarding Isah’s removal to both INEC and the national leadership of the party. However, this announcement has been met with contention from another faction within the party. Abdulshakur Danlami Mohammed, the factional publicity secretary of the APM, challenged Yahaya’s claim to the position of party secretary, insisting that he was not the recognised secretary of the party. While Mohammed did not deny the membership of the aggrieved officials, he affirmed that the party would respond appropriately to these developments.