Taraba APC dismisses Jimkuta’s suspension, passes vote of confidence in Senator-elect

The Takum Government chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has passed a vote of confidence the Senator-elect, Taraba South Senatorial District of Taraba, Emmanuel Jimkuta.

Chairman of the party in the local government, Alhaji Mijinyawa Salihu, passed the resolution on Monday in Jalingo.

Salihu said that the party did not have factional executives in the local government.

He accused those who had earlier announced the suspension of the senator-elect as non-APC members “who were hired for such a dirty assignment.

“We just want to respond to the purported expulsion of our senator-elect, Hon. David Jimkuta, by a group of people parading themselves as the executives of the party in Takum local government area.

“We members of the executives of APC in Takum local government area wish to state that there is no factional executive of the party in our local government and we remain the only executives.

“We equally want to put it on record that the group that signed the purported expulsion of our senator-elect are not members of APC in Takum local government,” he said.

Salihu described the masterminds of the purported expulsion as the “mercenaries recruited from an opposition party” by some aggrieved members who lost out at the primaries.

“I wish to state, in a very clear and loud voice, that we, the executives of APC in Takum local government, have passed a vote of confidence in our senator-elect, Hon. David Jimkuta.

“We also want to put it on record that Jimkuta had worked relentlessly to ensure victory for our party in the just-concluded governorship election.

“His efforts could not, however, yield results because our governorship candidate was not saleable, but was only imposed on the electorate,” he said.

The APC chairman described as laughable allegations of anti-party activities levelled against the senator-elect by the group he referred to as mischief makers.

He said: “What further exposed the group as non-members of APC is their ignorance of the fact that the APC constitution only gave the ward party executives the right to suspend or expel members.

“We urge the general public and party loyalists in the south senatorial zone to disregard the purported expulsion of our senator-elect.

“It is the handiwork of some mischief makers who are bent on destabilising the party on selfish grounds.”

He further said that the senator-elect was already making frantic efforts to reconcile all aggrieved party members in the senatorial district.

“We wish to appeal to members of APC across the zone, especially supporters of the senator-elect to remain calm, as things are being sorted out in our interest,” he stated.

Our correspondent reports that a factional executive council of the party in the council area had earlier announced Jimkuta’s expulsion over alleged anti-party activities.