Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Our Legal Adviser Did Not Resign – APC

…Bwala Not NWC Member – Associate

The All Progressives Congress, APC, said its National Legal Adviser, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, has not resigned from the party.

The APC was reacting to reports that Daniel Bwala resigned over the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket choice of the party.

Many reports which featured prominently on social media said Bwala, who is the special adviser to the deputy senate president on legal matters, was the party’s legal adviser.

The presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from the South-West on Sunday announced former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.

Tinubu made the disclosure while visiting President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, to pay him Sallah homage.

The Muslim-Muslim ticket has been generating a lot of controversy with the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, denouncing the move just as many opinion makers in and outside the party have kicked against it.

One of the notable party members, Daniel Bwala, a staunch supporter of Tinubu, soon announced his resignation from the party.

His action has been trending on social media with many predicting it’s one of the many defections that will hit the party following Shettima’s emergence.

But reacting in a statement on Monday, Felix Morka, spokesman of the APC, said Daniel Bwala is a legal aide to Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy president of the senate, and not the party’s legal adviser as reported in some news outlets.

“Our attention has been drawn to a false and misleading report circulating on some media platforms that the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has resigned,” Morka said.

He explained that, “Barr. Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq is, and remains, the National Legal Adviser of APC. Barr. Daniel Bwala was not the National Legal Adviser of the Party as erroneously reported.

“The report is either borne out of mischief or extreme negligence. We urge the general public to kindly disregard.”

THE WHISTLER attempted to contacted Bwala for comment but his phone was out of reach.

However, a close associate to Bwala, Benson Agada, confirmed that Bwala was not the party’s legal adviser as the real legal adviser, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, had emerged through the national convention of the party held earlier in the year.

“The report is not true. My principal was not APC’s legal adviser but was a strong member of the party. Maybe because he’s a lawyer and often appeared on television and is frequently featured in the news speaking and defending APC, maybe people feel he’s the party’s legal adviser.

“I am not speaking for him. I am only stating the obvious which I know for sure represents the truth, nothing but the truth. If he was the Legal Adviser, I didn’t know that.”

Agada added that Bwala indeed resigned from the party to register his displeasure with the Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“He resigned to show his anger and displeasure. As a senior member of the party although not a member of the national working committee of the party, it is a minus for the APC,” he told THE WHISTLER on telephone.