The Delta APC Leaders’ Council on Sunday called on the party’s Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to annul its recent ward and local government area congresses in the state.

It said in a communiqué released to newsmen in Abuja that fresh, all-inclusive ward and local government area congresses should be organised instead.

According to the communique, the council took the decision to call for fresh congresses in Delta at its recent expanded meeting which was also attended by some members of the State Working Committee.

It added that congresses should engender cohesion, inclusiveness and growth in the party through popular election of leaders or consensual production of its functionaries.

The communique was jointly signed by Mr. Festus Keyamo, the Council’s chairman and Minister of State for Labour and Employment; Dr. Alex Ideh, its Co-Chairman and Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, Secretary of the Council.

Others who signed it are Chief Great Ogboru, 2019 APC Delta governorship candidate; Mr. Victor Ochei, former Speaker, Delta House of Assembly; Mrs. Mariam Ali and Monday Igbuya, also former Speaker, Delta House of Assembly.

Mr Richard Odibo, Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission, Terry Okorodudu, leader APC Delta South, Dr Eugene Okolocha, and Joel-Onowakpo Thomas are also signatories to the communiqué.

According to it, various issues of great and urgent concerns were exhaustively debated at the Council’s meeting which arrived at a collective decision.

“We state and affirm here that there was no acceptable congress in Delta APC.

“We have previously heard through the grapevine that the entire state structure would be taken by an agent of the CECPC and that we can complain or go to court.

“The reasons for such grandstanding and boastfulness are now clear for all to see.

“The CECPC may have been misled, but we believe that justice will eventually prevail and they cannot befuddle the people of Delta,” it said.

The communique noted that Delta APC was not the personal property of any person, and would never be.

It recalled that the foundation and fulcrum of the APC were laid and built on integrity and progressive politics which President Muhammadu Buhari epitomised.

It stressed that the CECPC could not divorce itself from these tenets of democracy.

“Accordingly, we call on the CECPC to annul whatever it may be regarding as ward and local government area congresses in Delta, and organise fresh, all-inclusive congresses.

“This is the irreducible minimum for the teeming members of our party to work with the CECPC to take our party forward,” it stated.

The Council called on all party faithful, especially in Delta, to remain steadfast and patient in the face of brazen acts of injustice, provocation and undemocratic practices.

It assured that it would work to enthrone justice and fairness in the state to ensure equity for all members.

On zoning of party offices, it said zoning must be based on a clear understanding of the polity and firm endorsement of the relevant party leadership.

It added that it was the height of arbitrariness and arrogance for one person to claim to have zoned the party positions for the whole state ahead of the state congress.

“Expectedly, this was out rightly and overwhelmingly rejected.

“To carry the insult further, the same person, in acknowledgement of the pervasive rejection of his proposal, subsequently claimed to have personally set up a committee to review his own proposal.

“This clique of personal loyalists he calls a Review Committee is only meant to perfect his premeditated agendum of foisting a leadership on the APC in the state. We reject all these in their entirety,” the Council also stated.

The APC state congresses had been slated for October 16, while its national convention to elect new National Working Committee members is expected to hold in December.