Scores of women who are members of the All Progressives Congress stormed the party’s national secretariat in protest on Friday to demand the resignation of the party’s National Women Leader, Dr Mary Alile-Idele.
Her offence was her alleged failure to distribute all the 24,000 fabrics given to her for distribution to female members of the party across state chapters.
Saturday Tribune checks revealed that the fabrics were donated to the party’s national secretariat last week by the First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu.
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Hajia Nana Shettima, the wife of Vice President, Kashim Shettima presented the fabrics to the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Further investigation revealed that the donation by the Office of the First Lady was on the heels of an allegation of neglect by State Women Leaders who met recently with the APC National Working Committee.
While receiving the fabrics, Ganduje had cautioned against diversion and pleaded for even distribution to state chapters.
He said: “What is left is for you to be honest, transparent and nationalistic so that these wrappers will get to the target group.
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“Secondly, don’t charge anything including transport fare on these wrappers. They were given free and you should also give them free.”
Displaying placards with the inscriptions, ‘Enough is Enough!’ ‘Mary Alile Resign Now’ and ‘APC Women Leader Must Go,’ the aggrieved women appealed to the First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu and the National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to remove her for continually undermining female members of the party.
Coordinator of the Concerned APC Women, Rebecca Sheneni, who led the protests said that the volume of fabrics fell short of the number distributed alleging that only 9,000 of the 24,000 fabrics were shared.
She also alleged that the APC National Women Leader has been crisscrossing the country, promoting her pet project, a non-governmental organisation and abandoning her duty post at the party national Secretariat.
She said, “We, the Concerned APC Women Group, an umbrella body for all female members of the governing APC, deem it necessary and imperative to demand the immediate resignation of Mrs Mary Alile-Idele, the National Women Leader of our party.
“We are concerned that since assuming office, Mrs Mary Alile-Idele has displayed incompetence in her role. She appears to be more focused on promoting her Non-Governmental Organization rather than the party. This is evident in her recent travels to various states to inaugurate her NGO’s executives, instead of promoting the agenda and manifesto of our party to Nigerian women.
“Furthermore, Her Excellency the First Lady provided her with over 24,000 wrappers to distribute to Women leaders and party members, but she only distributed less than 9,000. Where are the rest? We wonder how a UK-based person with no political experience and no record of membership in our party could be considered for this exalted position.
“She prioritizes her interests over those of the APC, leading to the nomination of her husband for appointment as a member of the University of Port Harcourt Governing Council and various party assignments.
“Considering her numerous misdeeds and misconduct, we call for her immediate removal from the position of the APC. She has demonstrated a high level of incompetence and we have had enough.”
The women leader for Imo State, Mrs Patricia Okuebor-Benson, however, dismissed the allegation against Mrs Mary Alile-Idele.
According to her, virtually all their members across the various states have received their fabrics.
She said, “I am just hearing of this now because nobody told me before. As I speak, the 36 state women leaders and the FCT are in Abuja having a meeting and nobody has accused anybody of anything.
“We don’t know where these women are getting their stories from. I believe every state has received its fabrics. I don’t know what they are talking about. I think somebody is sponsoring them.
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