•Party still united, strong, says deputy chairman
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
A forum of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Council (NEC) members has written a protest letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over what they described as the poor handling of the affairs of the party by the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
The forum whose letter dated April 6, 2017, tagged: ‘Save our party-APC,’ and addressed to President Buhari, demanded an urgent meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to help resolve certain troubling issues.
The forum said if nothing is done by the president, the situation might lead to “preventable, avoidable and unnecessary intra-party cracks that the present situation might generate.”
The forum included some national officers of the party who are not members of the NWC.
In a copy of the letter signed by a national ex-officio, South-west Coordinator, Hon. Omolayo O. Akintola, which was made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday, the NEC members said they were not happy over the continued exclusion of some states from membership of the NWC.
In the letter, the group also expressed displeasure over the inability of the national leadership of the APC to hold NEC meeting as regularly as provided for in the party’s constitution.
The forum said that they have written several letters to the National Chairman, Oyegun, “without any positive reactions hence this ‘Save our party’ request.”
The letter reads: “We strongly feel that an urgent call on the appropriate quarters of the party be made to ensure that NEC meeting of our party as provided by Article 25 of our party constitution is obeyed to quarantine resolution of matters affecting party amicably.
“We are equally greatly displeased with the ways of handling party matters solely by the NWC only without any recourse to the NEC from which NWC derived her powers.
“Also to be noted for appropriate advice is the exclusion of sizeable number of federating states from scheme of things within the party because many states are not presently represented by party officers in the current NWC, hence, the need to be having regular NEC meetings pending the much awaited amendment to the present party constitution.
“We, therefore, deemed it necessary putting this letter across for your timely actions to save our great party from preventable, avoidable and unnecessary intra-party/in-house cracks that the present situation might generate.
“We strongly believe in your excellency’s ability and sagacity to normalise things within a good time frame.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy National Chairman of the party (APC -North), Senator Lawal Shuibu, has said the ruling party is still very strong regardless of the internal wrangling among members.
He said the caliber of Nigerians joining the party is a proof to the strength of the party, adding that in spite of the internal crisis, people are still struggling to join APC.
Shuibu said this while receiving Taraba State chapter of the party at the Abuja national secretariat assured Nigerians that the APC has recorded multiple achievements since coming to power.
He asked Nigerians castigating the APC-led government to wait and listen to President Buhari when he rolls out multiple achievements recorded within two years in his May 29presidential broadcast.
According to the party chieftain, no degree of infightings will threaten the strength of the ruling party.
“I want to assure Nigerians that APC is still very strong regardless of the internal wrangling. We know that we are fighting ourselves but why is it that in spite of the internal crisis people are still struggling to join APC? They are not just anybody on the street but eminent Nigerians and even persons elected into public offices.
“What it means is that people still have faith in the APC and still see it as the formidable party that can change what we met in 2015. The change mantra is still on course and a lot of people are struggling to be part of the change and history.
“I want us to continue to be one. We are experiencing infighting because we don’t recognise the spirit in which the broom was made our symbol. This broom shows unity and if we cut the rope binding the broom together, everything will scatter. I don’t see our internal fighting as a threat to the strength of the party. We are not going to allow the broom to scatter.
“We have already set up committees to visit our state chapters to reconcile all the feuding members. We have also constituted the entire NWCinto a reconciliation committee to settle any misunderstandings within the national level,” he noted.
On the achievements of the party at the federal government level, Shuaibu said: “I want to urge you to continue to be patient. I want to emphasise that the reward will come in many ways including safety and ability to feed our families. Yes, the reward may not necessarily come into individual pockets but as general benefits to the entire society. It is not going to come so fast but slowly.”
