Crisis has erupted in the Adamawa state chapter of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) over the choice of who replaces the suspended Secretary Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal, as the APC national vice chairman, northeast zone. 

Babachir vacated the office in June 2015 when he was appointed SGF, since then, the office has been vacant until two weeks ago when the national secretary of APC issued a letter of appointment to Mustafa Salihu, a brother to the Suspended SGF as the new occupant of the office. 

While addressing journalists yesterday in Yola, acting chairman of the party, Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, declared his support to the appointment of Salihu. On the illegality of the appointment, he claimed that the national secretary has the constitutional powers to appoint anyone. On why it took the party over two years to fill the vacuum, he said that it was the national secretariat that has the powers to conduct poll for the zone. 

However, a group of APC elders in Adamawa state described the utterances of Bilal as not only a ploy to destroy the party in the zone, but that he was acting the script of his pay master.  The spokesman of the group Alhaji Usman Ahmed Belel, a former governorship candidate of defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), said that Bilal who is also occupying his office illegally has the right to defend illegality since he is a beneficiary of illegal appointment. Belel reminded the national secretariat that if they failed to learn a lesson during the last senatorial by-election in Osun, they will regret embracing illegality in the party.