Aspirants Kick At Convention As Goves Push For Consensus

Governors who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are pushing for the emergence of the National Working Committee (NWC) through consensus ahead of the party’s February convention, according to Daily Trust.

Atiku Bagudu, Governor of Kebbi State and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), announced on Monday, following a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, that the party’s convention will be held in February.

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On Sunday, the APC governors met in Abuja to discuss the convention in great detail. Following the scheming of 13 governors who are members of the party, the PDP held its convention last month, with the national chairman and other key positions emerging through consensus.

At the conclusion of the convention, a new NWC would be elected to lead the ruling party for the next four years.

Since Adams Oshiomhole’s ouster in June 2020, the party has been run by a caretaker committee chaired by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe State.

According to multiple party sources, the chairmanship and other key positions will be decided by consensus. Members of the State Working Committees (SWCs) were elected through consensus arrangements during the party’s recently concluded state congresses, causing a crisis in 12 states.

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According to one of the sources, a member of the Buni-committee, the governors are pushing for the consensus agreement to save the party from implosion.

“Hopefully, the chairman and others will emerge through consensus.” We don’t want any more crises leading up to the primaries. “Electing our chairman and others through a contest would exacerbate the challenges that our party is facing,” he said.

The issue of consensus, according to an aspirant for the chairmanship position who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, should be dropped.

He believes that all contestants should be given a level playing field to compete on, and that the results should be announced at the convention.

Another party leader warned the leaders to be wary of the acrimony that would ensue if consensus was reached.

“In the recently held ward, local government, and state congresses, consensus failed to produce the desired results, as some governors and other APC bigwigs imposed their preferred candidates on the people. Our party will be doomed if we allow this to happen at the national level,” he said.

Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State explained why the convention was set for February on BBC Hausa Service yesterday.

“We considered holding the convention because it was scheduled for the end of December, and our colleagues in the southern states and Christians said it should be postponed to next year because it is their Christmas season,” he said.

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Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of Borno State, has demanded that the chairmanship be assigned to the North East.

Sheriff, speaking through Sen Victor Lar, his campaign’s Director of Media, said the APC needs someone like him to jump right in and galvanize support for the party’s victory in 2023.

Uche Nwosu, the party’s governorship candidate in Imo State in the 2019 election, has warned the party’s leadership to reconcile all warring factions in states before holding its planned national convention.

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In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Nwosu, the son-in-law of Rochas Okorocha, the former governor of Imo State, argued that holding the party’s convention in February without first resolving the crises plaguing some state chapters would be “putting the cart before the horse.”