The All Progressives Congress (APC) executive committee in Adamawa has passed a vote of no confidence in chairman Ibrahim Bilal over gross misconduct.

A statement signed by the executives in Yola stated that the action followed the chairman’s failure to respond to allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him as provided in the constitution.

“We, the undersigned members of the state executive committee of the APC in Adamawa, have passed a vote of no confidence on the chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, over gross misconduct,” the statement said.

The executives claimed they issued a formal complaint on August 26 over the chairman’s violation of the party’s constitution.

According to the acting chairman, Samaíla Tadawus, the secretary and the treasurer acknowledged receipt of the petition and promised to respond, while Mr Bilal refused to respond.

“There are a plethora of petitions at the secretariat addressed to the chairman, but he hadn’t sat down at the secretariat for a second for over two months, making the petitions to remain unaddressed,” added the committee. “As a result of this gross failure, it was resolved that article 21.5 (vi) of the party’s constitution should be invoked. This vested in us the powers to pass a vote of no confidence on him.”

Reacting, Mr Bilal debunked his impeachment, saying that he remains the party chairman as only the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC reserves the power to remove an elected chairman.

“I still remain APC party chairman in Adamawa. This needs to be restated so as not to mislead the uninformed,” he said.

He stated he was encouraged by the “outpouring of goodwill from party stakeholders who have said these grave desecration of the rule of law will never be allowed to prevail.”

Meanwhile, Elisha Abbo (the senator representing APC-Adamawa North) has cautioned the party’s stakeholders against instigating a crisis.

“The party was heading for victory, not internal wranglings,” Mr Abbo said in a statement.

He described the current crisis rocking the party as “baseless, saddening, unfounded and unfortunate.”

(NAN)