APC Govs Meet With Buhari, Confirm March 26 Convention Take Place

Despite the election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Progressive Governors Forum said on Tuesday in Abuja that there was no plan to move the All Progressives Congress national convention from March 26.

Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State, the forum’s chairman, revealed this to State House correspondents after leading a delegation of APC governors to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, just before the President left for Nairobi, Kenya.

Shortly after INEC released the election schedule for 2023, there were rumors that a faction of the party was pushing for the national convention to be postponed so that the party’s national executives and primaries could be held on the same day.

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Bagudu, on the other hand, told journalists that the March date would not be changed.

“Last week, about 20 APC governors were in this hall (Villa Briefing Room), and this question came up, and we clearly stated that we had come to discuss the national convention, which is slated for March 26, and that we are working hard to ensure that on March 26, we have our convention and elect our national officers, and that remains the case,” he said.

The governor of Kebbi State also debunked claims that the governors are still split over the party’s zoning and chairmanship policies.

“There is no squabble.” The APC’s 22 governors are united behind the party and Mr. President as a whole,” he said.

The governors visited the President, among other things, to congratulate him on signing the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the APC’s victory in some of the bye-elections held last weekend, according to Bagudu.

The zoning of the office of the National Secretary to the South West was reportedly protested by APC governors from the South East, with Bagudu insisting that it was too late to change the zoning formula.

Regardless of the PGF chairman’s position, our correspondent has learned that the South East governors are determined to express their views to the party’s National Secretary, Dr. John Akpanudoedehe, at an APC governors meeting scheduled for Tuesday night.

Aminu Masari of Katsina, Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Hope Uzodinma of Imo, Gboyega Oyetola of Ogun, Abubakar Bello of Niger, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, and the deputy governor of Anambra
The APC governors met behind closed doors at the Kebbi Governors’ Lodge in Abuja last night.

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The meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), on Tuesday came just hours after the Progressive Governor met with him at the Presidential Villa.

Although PGF Chairman Abubakar Bagudu did not specify what would be discussed on Tuesday night, it is expected that the main topic of discussion would be the consensus Chairmanship candidate ahead of the March 26 election.

Our correspondent learned earlier at the Presidential Villa that the governors tried in vain to persuade the President to drop Abdullahi Adamu as the consensus candidate for the national chairmanship.
Buhari was said to have flatly refused to change his mind after hearing their arguments against the former Nasarawa State Governor.

After what appeared to be a heated disagreement among them as they emerged from the meeting with the President, the Kebbi State Governor debunked claims that the Progressive Governors Forum was still divided over the party’s direction on zoning and chairmanship.

“There’s no altercation,” he says. “I’m not aware of any.” Last week, Mallam Nasiru (Kaduna State governor) responded to that look by saying, “If by altercation people mean differences of opinion before a decision is reached, then maybe that is what people can… The APC’s 22 governors, on the other hand, are united behind the party and Mr. President as a whole.”

Concerned party members convened the ‘APC National Stakeholders’ earlier on Tuesday to warn against attempts to “impose” former PDP members Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Ken Nnamani as the party’s National Chairman and Deputy National Chairman, respectively.

“We have always been against imposition in any guise,” they say, “considering our belief that whenever a consensus option is adopted without being preceded by wide consultation, it will undoubtedly violate every known democratic ethos and principles.”

“The lingering and now widespread speculation about the plan to elect Senator Abdullahi Adamu, a former member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as the APC National Chairman in the upcoming Convention, where loyal, qualified, and competent APC foundation members are also in the race, is not only an aberration, but a violation of the APC’s established principle of long-term fidelity and frowns on injustice.”

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“While it is within his constitutional rights to compete for any position within the APC or even the country as a whole, we believe that the individuals purportedly behind the plot to make Abdullahi Adamu the next APC National Chairman cannot sit in their zones alone and decide who gets what.”

APC Governors from the Southeast reportedly protested the zoning of the National Secretary’s office to the Southwest, with Bagudu insisting that it was too late to change the zoning formula.

Despite the PGF Chairman’s position, our correspondent learned that the Southeast governors are determined to express their views to the party’s National Secretary, Dr. John Akpanudoedehe, at an APC governors meeting scheduled for Tuesday night.