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The recent claim by the Publicity Secretary of the opposition All People's Congress (APC), Yayah Sidi Tunis, that the 2020 reinstatement process of Chief Samuel Sam Sumana was "illlegal" has raised public concern surrounding the former Vice President's membership status in the APC, and the noticeable constitutional inconsistencies with the party's current leadership.

According to competent legal sources, from the documents available, including a letter from Ambassador Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh dated September 2020 and an APC receipt issued to Chief Sam Sumana in October 2022, it can be established that the APC National Advisory Committee (NAC), which is the party's second-highest authority, unanimously voted to pardon Chief Sam Sumana and lifted his expulsion.

Sources further disclosed that the decision was explicitly stated to be "endorsed by a National Delegates Conference as outlined in Article 8 of the December 5, 1995 APC Constitution," noting that the party later recognised Chief Sam Sumana's reinstatement status by accepting and issuing a receipt for his party dues as a "Patron" in December 2022.

Sources argued that the claim by the APC Publicity Secretary that the 2020 reinstatement process was "illegal" has presented a significant legal dilemma for the party.

"If the National Secretary General and NAC who made up the party's executive leadership at that time did not have the authority to initiate Chief Sam Sumana's reinstatement according to the 1995 Constitution, then the validity of all their actions during that period comes to question. This must logically include their involvement in creating and implementing the 2022 APC Constitution," sources argued.

They furthered that the APC cannot reasonably reject the 2020 reinstatement process as "illegal" while simultaneously asserting the authority of the 2022 APC Constitution that was established under the same executive leadership.