Governors
of the All Progressives Congress under the aegis of Progressives Governors
Forum, and the National Working Committee of the party, yesterday agreed to go
ahead and hold its long overdue mid-term National Convention.
The
governors, who passed a vote of confidence on the Muhammadu Buhari APC-led
government, declared, “We have done well,” adding that they would meet with the
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on a date for the convention.
Briefing
newsmen after a closed-door meeting at the party’s national secretariat, the
Plateau state Governor, Simon Lalong, said the problem facing the party “will
soon be a thing of the past,” stressing that the APC “now has reasons to
smile.”
Lalong
said the governors’ meeting with the NWC reviewed the situation in the party,
and henceforth resolved to take issues concerning their party more seriously.
The
governor who spoke in company of his Niger state counterpart, Sani Bello, and
the APC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said, “That was
essentially the purpose of this meeting.
“We
also agreed that this meeting will be on a monthly basis. We started last
month, today is another meeting and next month will be another meeting. The
issue of National Convention was raised and it was part of the decisions we
took at the last meeting. Unfortunately, like you already know, the President
is not around and he is the leader of the party.”
Continuing,
he said: “So, what we have done is that since we have an acting president, the
team that was supposed to meet with the President with a suggested date
convenient, the same team should meet with the Acting President.
“We
are going to organise a convention which is constitutional and the leader of
the party must also be at the convention. The time we agreed to meet with the
President, he had to travel out of the country and now, the Acting President is
around.
“The
first approach was to the President, and now, we all agreed that if the
President is not there, there is an acting president and so, we are going to
meet with him to agree on a date for the convention.
“During
our last meeting, we had issues, but today, things have changed and people are
smiling. The party is even smiling. So, those challenges have been taken over
by events. That is why I told you that even if we were backward before, now, we
are taking issues of our party seriously and we are meeting on monthly basis.
So, issues like that are no longer issues in APC.
“Part
of the conclusion of the meeting was a report on the issues and disagreement in
some states such as Bauchi and Kogi. The party reported that they have invited
those people and those issues are almost resolved.”
Addressing
the meeting earlier, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun,
commended the governors for delivering on their promises to their people,
saying most of the achievements of the governors were being downplayed.
He
expressed happiness that the party leadership and the governors were meeting
regularly now, saying: “I want to say that I am so happy that we have met twice
and we are seeing the effects, very positive, very salutary effects are
beginning to manifest in the party
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