Laleye Dipo in Minna
The Chairman of the Niger State All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Jibrin Imam, has defended the affirmation method adopted by the party for last Saturday’s ward congresses, saying: “The policy will help to strengthen and stabilise the party.”
All members of the leadership of the party were returned by consensus without casting of votes during the congresses, a development that saw virtually all those that occupied the seats retaining them.
Speaking in Minna on Monday, Imam said: “The decision to adopt the affirmation option did not come with ease but we are happy we took the decision.
“The affirmation option did not come with ease. We are happy we took the decision, the policy will further strengthen the party’s existing structures.
“We have shown maturity in the way we handled the exercise. Our party will now move forward without any obstacle.”
In the meantime, the state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has commended members of the party in the state for “conducting a peaceful and rancor free ward congress”.
The governor said the peaceful conduct of the congress in the state had further strengthened and deepened internal party democracy of the ruling APC.
Bello noted that it was heart warming that the congresses went on smoothly and “we finished in less than two hours which tells that everything went well”.
Corroborating the remarks of the state chairman of the party, the governor said the affirmation option was adopted after “consultations with critical stakeholders”.
“My administration is operating a true democratic system which allows internal democracy to take place,” he said.
