The odds now
favour the former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odgie Oyegun, to emerge as
the first substantive National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress
(APC).
Indications
of a major consensus on the chairmanship tussle emerged last night as top
leaders of the opposition party went into a closed door meeting in a last
minute effort to resolve the zoning logjam which had put party on the edge.
There had
been a deadlock following the decision of the party's governors to
support the candidacy of former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipire Sylva,
for same chairmanship position.
It was
however, gathered that a powerful lobby spearheaded by the former Lagos State
governor and a national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, was behind the
latest push to confirm Oyegun for the job.
A source
said the leaders had scheduled to meet all night yesterday with all contending
interest groups, including the APC governors in a bid to arrive at a consensus
over the zoning arrangement.
It was
learnt that while most of the leaders had accepted the zoning of the
chairmanship seat to the South-south and were only waiting for formal adoption,
the tussle over where to cede the office of the national secretary and
organising secretary remained in contention.
The source
said both the North-west and the North-east are contesting for the secretary
position zoned to their areas, while the South-west and South-east are still
bargaining over who takes the position of the organising secretary.
Before last
night's crucial meeting held at a location in Asokoro, Abuja, Tinubu was
said to have submitted the names of Oyegun and Kashim Imam to Muhammadu Buhari
and Governor Aliyu Wammako to be considered as chairman and secretary
respectively.
But both men
told Tinubu to wait till after the meeting yesterday night so that the matter
could sorted out with key stakeholders.
Meanwhile,
barely two days to the first national convention of the APC, the party appeared
not to have resolved issues concerning the zoning arrangement for the
substantive national officers.
The issue of
the disqualification of members of the interim national executive of the APC
from contesting for substantive positions was raised during the meeting by a top
member of the party and the deputy chairman of the Screening Committee, Mr.
Okoi Obono-Obla.
While
addressing a meeting of the convention sub-committees in Abuja yesterday, the
Secretary of the national convention committee, Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige,
said the party was yet to endorse the zoning of any particular position
to any region.
However, he said this does not rule out any later agreement on zoning format based on gentlemen agreement.
However, he said this does not rule out any later agreement on zoning format based on gentlemen agreement.
"No,
we have not zoned anything to anywhere and you know that zoning is a
conceptual arrangement, so even if we agree it will be a sort of gentlemen
agreement, it will not deny anybody of their right as enshrined in the Nigerian
constitution."
Obono-Obla
quoted schedule 213 of the revised constitution of APC which according to him
demands that serving members of the party executives who wish to re-contest for
their offices must first resign 30 days before the convention date.
He pointed
out that issues were already generating tension amongst party men and contestants,
adding that there was the need to address it, so as not to give some aggrieved
member a lacuna to go to court to challenge the holding of the convention.
Quoting the
relevant section of the party's constitution, Obono-Obla said: "Any
party's office holder interested in contesting for an elective office shall
resign and leave office, 30 days before the date of elections into the office
he or she is seeks to contest".
Obono-Obla
noted that as at yesterday, none of the interim national officers had resigned
or submitted letters to that effect.
Ngige who
tried to clarify issues also read out schedule 22, saying, " subject to
the approval of the national executive committee, the national working
committee may in special circumstances grant weaver to a person or persons not
otherwise qualified. If in his own opinion such a weaver is in the best
interest of the party".
He said the
issue of disqualification of interim party executives was discussed at the last
meeting of the party's leadership and was agreed that it shall be at the
discretion of the party's leadership.
He said one
of the reasons adduced for the decision was that the present constitution has
not become operational
"One of the reasons for taking such a stand was that our constitution has not become operational. We have not constituted our board of trustees, we have not constituted our NEC and National Working Committee (NWC). What we have as at today are interim officers. But we told them that we like to trash the matter out at another meeting of the leadership later on Tuesday evening.
"One of the reasons for taking such a stand was that our constitution has not become operational. We have not constituted our board of trustees, we have not constituted our NEC and National Working Committee (NWC). What we have as at today are interim officers. But we told them that we like to trash the matter out at another meeting of the leadership later on Tuesday evening.
According to
him, the meeting of the leadership which would also be attended by the
convention committee would attempt to resolve all outstanding issues connected
to the smooth conduct of Friday's convention.
Ngige therefore
pleaded with the stakeholder to have patience till Thursday when the matter
would have been resolved.
Tags
Politics
Dis apc are not practising politics atal!!!!! What is consensus???? In democracy
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