Congresses: By leaders, why new excos must reconcile party members

Southwest Bureau Chief Bisi Oladele Jide Orintunsin, Abuja, Nicholas Kalu, Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja, Osagie Otabor, Akure, Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt, Jide Orintunsin, Abuja, Kolade Adeyemi, Jos, Fanen Ihyongo, Kano, Augustine Okezie, Katsina, Bauchi, AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna, Damian
On Sunday, more reactions followed the weekend congresses held by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Claims and counter-claims were made by “winners of the congresses” held in the 34 states of the union, as expected.

The reactions came after the National APC Secretariat ruled that state congresses held by non-accredited committees across the country on Saturday were null and void. The party insisted that no parallel congresses were held, despite media reports to the contrary.

However, reports from Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Bauchi, Abia, Rivers, and Cross River states, among others, revealed that parallel congresses were held depending on the number of political factions present.

Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, Secretary to the party’s Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), told our correspondent in an interview yesterday that only congresses organized by the party’s accredited Congress panels would be recognized.

Regardless of parallel elections held in some states, party leaders urged newly elected leaders to seek reconciliation and be magnanimous in victory yesterday.

Gbajabiamila and Wase advise APC executives to increase membership, saying that victory breeds victory.

Read also: Misau, an ally of the Education Minister, is the new chairman of the Bauchi APC

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, urged the Lagos State APC executive, led by Cornelius Ojelabi, to mobilize more members into the party yesterday. Ahmed Idris Wase, the Deputy Speaker, also advised the newly elected Rufus Bature-led APC executive in Plateau State to redouble their efforts in leading the party to victory in the upcoming elections.

Gbajabiamila congratulated Ojelabi on his election as chairman of the Lagos State APC. The Speaker said he was not surprised by Ojelabi’s emergence as a former House member and state commissioner.

Gbajabiamila described the new Chairman as a good ambassador for the House of Representatives in a statement released by his spokesman, Lanre Lasisi.

Over the years, Gbajabiamila said, Ojelabi has demonstrated loyalty, determination, dedication, and commitment to the party’s growth and development, particularly the progressive family.

He urged the party’s leaders to begin educating the public about the importance of obtaining a Permanent Voters Card. He also advised them to strengthen the APC family and leave a positive legacy.

Wase also urged the new state executive members to reach out to disgruntled members to maintain the party’s unity, according to a statement released by his spokesman, Umar Puma. Wase, who spoke at the APC state congress in Jos over the weekend, urged party executives at the grassroots to ensure that the party’s structure is strengthened and that its supporters are carried along, according to the statement.

Akeredolu will investigate the outcome of the APC exercise in Ondo.

Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has announced that an investigation into the state’s last Saturday congress will be conducted due to an alleged constitutional violation.

According to Akeredolu, there have been complaints about age discrimination in some offices. Such complaints, he promised, would not go unnoticed.

The governor, speaking through Donald Ojogo, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, said the complaints would be thoroughly investigated and remedial measures taken to address them.

He congratulated the newly-elected State Executive Committee led by Ade Adetimehin and thanked members of the party for a “exemplary and unique show of unity and love.”

The APC tells Aregbesola’s supporters that there will be no congress anywhere else.

The National Secretariat of the APC in Osun State’s Congress Committee yesterday slammed the parallel congress held by loyalists of Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola.

Gbenga Elegbeleye, Chairman of the Congress Committee, told reporters at the APC secretariat in Osogbo yesterday: “We have done the necessary in conducting congress in Osun State.” The results are in, and we’re submitting the report to the party’s national secretariat.

“I am not aware of any other congress in Osun State, and no one has informed me or any other member of this committee.” We are a group of seven people. We don’t act on what we don’t know.

“On Friday, we went to the party’s state secretariat to hold a stakeholders meeting, and we informed party members that the congress would be held on Saturday at Osogbo Township Stadium.” So, if we came here to announce the congress’s location, we were tasked by the national secretariat to organize the APC’s Osun State party congress.

“So, if someone goes to a shrine to do something, it’s probably a funeral or a wedding ceremony, but not a congress.”

Why did the APC congress in Oyo fail?

According to The Nation, the APC’s state congress in Oyo State collapsed on Saturday due to party leaders’ inability to reconcile interests and bitterness over pre-congress electoral losses.
On Thursday, the party’s leaders broke the deadlock over an acceptable strategy for producing members of the executive by zoning the positions. Candidates for specific positions in the state executive were requested from each of the seven zones.

However, the zoning has harmed some governorship candidates and those seeking positions in the National Assembly. It also hurt those who had already lined up candidates for key positions as part of their governorship ambitions. As a result, the majority of the aspirants declined to attend subsequent meetings scheduled for Friday and Saturday in order to resolve the pre-congress crisis.

Read also: Kogi tackles the EFCC over the controversial N20bn loot

The party had only intended to affirm the consensus candidates who had been presented at the congress on Saturday.

Some zones held elections to select candidates from each zone, resulting in winners and losers. There were two groups of people who felt aggrieved as a result of the situation: those who lost because of zoning and those who lost in the election that produced consensus candidates.

The PDP will set a new date for the canceled Lagos congress.

The PDP’s national leadership has announced that the party’s botched congress in Lagos State will be rescheduled soon.

In response to the state’s botched state congress on Saturday, the PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, told our correspondent on the phone yesterday that the event had been canceled due to a security breach.

The exercise, according to Ologbondiyan, was successful in other states, including Adamawa, where it was held on Saturday.

Ward and State Congresses were scheduled to take place in nine states, according to a timetable recently released by the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC).

Lagos, Oyo, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Kogi, Osun, Kwara, and Ebonyi states were on the list for full or partial congresses.

The tenure of the Executive Committees in Lagos, Oyo, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Kogi, Osun, and Kwara states had expired, according to a statement released by the PDP’s Abuja national secretariat.

The party’s spokesman clarified that only seven states remained as of Friday, October 15, 2021, with Lagos being the only one still outstanding.

The party’s congress was disrupted on Saturday, according to Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, a candidate for the position of Lagos State PDP Chairman.

Following a disagreement over the delegates’ list for accreditation, the state congress of the main opposition party became inconclusive.

However, in a statement released yesterday in Lagos, outgoing PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, blamed the canceled congress on hoodlum gunshots at the venue.

Nabena warns elected officials about the importance of reconciliation.

Yekini Nabena, the APC’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary and a party chieftain in Bayelsa State, has urged newly elected state leaders to engage in massive reconciliation and be magnanimous in victory. He praised the Congress’s peaceful conduct in most states, particularly in Bayelsa State, where a new set of leaders was elected.

In a statement released in Abuja, Nabena congratulated the newly-elected state executive and called for genuine reconciliation among party men and women who may have been harmed by the process. The Bayelsa-born politician, who claimed the exercise was carried out in accordance with the party’s constitution, also urged the new leaders to demonstrate their worth by leading the party with fear of God.

Ex-Plateau SSG Bature is the new chairman of the APC.

Rufus Bature, a former legislator who represented the people of Barkin Ladi Constituency from 1999 to 2007 and the immediate past Secretary to the Government of Plateau State, was elected APC Chairman at the Crest Hotel Conference Hall in Jos, Plateau State. As a consensus candidate, he was elected.

Governor Simon Bako Lalong, on the other hand, stated that the APC family in Plateau State remains a beacon of democracy and a source of hope for the state’s and nation’s peace, progress, and unity.

Lalong, speaking at the APC State Congress in Jos, where members of the State Executive Committee were elected, said members’ maturity and consistent conduct demonstrated the party’s strength in the state and its members’ unity.

The governor urged the state party executives to collaborate with other party officials at the local government, ward, and unit levels, emphasizing the importance of party members being carried along and being fair, honest, and transparent in all their dealings.

Bature thanked Lalong for providing the state with the needed leadership, saying that the APC has endeared itself to the people and given them hope. The new state committee is made up of 36 people.

Ganduje praises the APC’s Kano congress.

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the governor of Kano State, has hailed the election of Abdullahi Abbas as the new chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, which took place on Saturday.

“Any parallel gathering elsewhere by some disgruntled politicians in the name of the APC should be considered illegal, null, and void.” Delegates voted for the new chairman (Abbas), who “conducted themselves in an orderly manner to enable the party to follow the normal procedures for conducting the congress,” he said.

Abbas, the interim APC chairman, was re-elected as the party’s new chairman, receiving 3,122 votes out of 3,320 votes cast at the congress.

The Chief Returning Officer, Auwal Abdullahi, who led a seven-man delegation from the party’s National Headquarters in Abuja to conduct the congress, announced the results at the voting venue.

Another candidate for the Chairmanship position, Mustapha Sharif of the state’s Dala local government, withdrew from the race prior to the start of the election.

Former governor and senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Barau Jibril representing Kano North, Ibrahim Shaaban Sharada, and other aggrieved members of the party met with the Kano State All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus at the National Assembly yesterday to open the doors of reconciliation.

Masari’s message to the Katsina APC executive is to avoid partisanship.

As the newly elected members of the APC state executive committee set out to steer the party’s affairs, state Governor Aminu Bello Masari warned them to avoid partisanship and live above board.

Masari, speaking after the swearing-in of the committee members who emerged through a consensus arrangement at the Muhammad Dikko Stadium in Katsina, attributed the success of the APC congress to the cooperation of party members.

Ahmed El Marzuk, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, swore in the party executives.

Chairman Sani Ali Ahmed, Deputy Chairman Bala Abu Musawa, Secretary Shittu A. Shittu, and Treasurer Babangida Aliyu are among the newly elected executive committee members.

Sani is a supporter of the APC’s Kaduna congress.

Senator Uba Sani of Kaduna Central has thrown his support behind Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Kaduna Rufai’s State APC consensus policy, describing it as a demonstration of democratic spirit.

This comes amid reports that the state chapter is in crisis, with the senator boycotting the congress in protest.

The lawmaker described el-action Rufai’s as proof of his refusal to influence the selection of ward, local government, and state party executives in a statement, which also praised the governor’s ability to successfully complete ward, local government, and state congresses. “He gave stakeholders at all levels the freedom to come up with their own solutions,” he said.

The APC in Enugu will have two chairmen.

Two chairmen emerged from the APC’s parallel congresses held on Saturday in different parts of Enugu State.

They are Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, a former state commissioner, and Comrade Adolphus Ude, a former state deputy chairman of the party.

Agballah was formed by a group led by Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Chief Ken Nnamani, former Senate President; and Sullivan Chime, former governor.

The congress was held at the Destiny Event Centre in Enugu, and it was overseen by the congress committee, which was chaired by Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu.

Ude, on the other hand, defeated a faction loyal to the party’s outgoing caretaker chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, at the party’s state secretariat in Enugu.

Uzodinma, Okorocha and Okorocha disagree on the Imo APC congress.

On Saturday, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma advised newly elected APC state executive members to reconcile disgruntled members and convert new ones.

After the party’s congress in Owerri on Saturday, Uzodimma gave the charge. To elect its officers, the party used a consensus voice-voting system.

The governor praised the 1,700 delegates for voting unanimously in favor of the officers, claiming that “democracy is working in Imo State.”

He also praised the organizing committee and party members for their perseverance in ensuring a smooth operation.

However, former Governor Rochas Okorocha said yesterday that there was no APC congress in the state because the party’s Exco was the subject of a substantive Appeal Court judgment.

Read also: Dennis Otiotio is the new chairman of the Bayelsa APC

On Saturday, Okorocha and other members of the opposition, including Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, boycotted the state congress.

In a statement, Okorocha said, “In addition to the substantive appeal court judgment, there is an appeal pending in the Supreme Court over the issue,” through his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo.

“What are we going to discuss at the congress?” Nobody constructs something from the ground up. There is no doubt that the Exco of the party in Imo State is the subject of a substantive appeal court judgment. Furthermore, a Supreme Court appeal is pending and the case has not been decided, and someone has stated that he is holding a congress.”
On congresses, Amaechi and Abe’s supporters disagree.

Rotimi Amaechi, the Transport Minister and former Governor of Rivers State, said over the weekend that the APC in Rivers would not allow its critics to prevent the party from fielding a governorship candidate in 2023.

People who used the court to prevent the APC from running in the 2019 general election claimed the party did not hold valid primaries, according to Amaechi, who spoke in Port Harcourt.

The minister spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday, where the APC held its state primaries.

Senator Magnus Abe’s and his supporters’ names were not found on the delegates’ list for the state congress, according to reports.

Former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, and former Majority Leader of the House, Golden Ben Chioma, were among the senator’s prominent supporters, whose names were not released.

The Abe-led APC faction, on the other hand, announced the names of alleged winners of a phony parallel congress they held yesterday.

The group listed a former state lawmaker, Golden Chioma, as chairman, Ineye Jack (secretary), and Paul Osiago (publicity secretary) on a list of 27 positions circulated in Port Harcourt yesterday.

Chioma confirmed the list was the result of a parallel congress they held while “the other group was holding theirs, we were also holding ours somewhere in Port Harcourt” when contacted by phone.

However, after the election on Saturday, Chairman of the Rivers APC Congress Screening Committee delegated from the National Secretariat, Dr. Abubakar Idris, announced Emeka Beke as the winner of the chairmanship position, having received 1,575 votes out of 1,615 accredited delegates in the state.

In Adamawa’s APC congress, 12 councils vote.

As the All Progressive Congress (APC) state congress election entered its second day yesterday, a total of 12 local government areas in Adamawa had already voted.

In the state, the APC convention began late Saturday evening.

The election was delayed due to an intensive and thorough screening of the delegates, according to Prof. Umar Katsayal, Chairman of the election committee. According to Katsayal, the election was conducted in a smooth, peaceful, and transparent manner.

“The election is being conducted in accordance with the party’s rules and regulations,” Adamu said.

Mr. Mohammed Yunusa, a member of the screening committee, also confirmed that voting has taken place in 12 of the 21 local government areas.

According to the Oyo REC, INEC recognizes the PDP’s congress in Adamasingba.

In Oyo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced yesterday that only the PDP State Congress held on Saturday at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex in Adamasingba, Ibadan, is recognized.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Ibadan, Mr. Mutiu Agboke, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), confirmed this.

Agboke made the remarks while leading the commission’s management team on an advocacy visit to Abere Central Mosque in Agbowo, Ibadan.

On Saturday in Ibadan, two parallel PDP State Congresses were held, with two separate party executives emerging.

Governor Seyi Makinde’s faction held a congress at Adamasingba’s Lekan Salami Sports Complex’s mainbow.