Governors under the platform of APC again met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday have agreed to support congresses at all levels leaving Chief John Odiegie-Oyegun in the limbo.
The governors involved are those of Zamfara (Abdulazeez Yari); Plateau (Simon Lalong); Imo (Rochas Okorocha); Kano (Abdullahi Ganduje) and Ogun, Ibikunle Amosun.
They informed that the party will hold congresses at all levels culminating in a national convention.
Yari who spoke on their behalf said: “Gentlemen of the press, you know yesterday we left you in the dark after the meeting and today we have seen so many captions that there is disagreement between the governors over the issue of party Chairman or about the party leadership.
“No. We had a meeting with Mr President yesterday (Tuesday), and we extended the meeting tonight and we followed up with the consultations with the President now.
“We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are in the same page with Mr President that we are going to respect our party constitution, we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“So, therefore, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels – Local – State and National.
“And the committee set up by the National Secretariat of our party headed by the governor of Plateau State, is presenting its report later today.
“The governors are also meeting with the national working committee today so that we come up with convention committee names as well as the timetable of the election.
“So, there is no deadlock in our meeting. We have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members as well as the timetable.â€
Okorocha on his part added: “I just want to let you know that there is no crisis in the APC at all. And we want to use this opportunity to advise the media operatives to stop spreading rumours of a crisis in APC. There is no single crisis in APC.
“The issue was one of the people who believe that we did not have enough time to organise a party congress and run the election.
“Some people felt that it was a good idea but the most important thing is that, if we do that we will be contravening both our party constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the major issue that we have that they call a crisis. We do not have a virus.
“This morning we met with Mr President to fine-tune issues, one regarding the Congress and we have resolved that the congresses at all levels and the Chairman of the elongation committee, is also fine-tuning the arrangement in the same line. To this effect, the convention committee will be set out, it will be announced.
“But let me correct one impression, the issue of congress and convention does not mean that the previous people who have served the party have done badly. And it does not mean that they cannot come back or that they cannot re-contest, that is not it.
“We are simply saying that their tenure has ended and those who wish to re-contest can re-contest and can be elected to our party structure. So, we are all one as a family and we are set to go for 2019 elections in a victory.â€
Lalong revealed that he will submitting his report on Wednesday, affirming: “There is no crisis in our party.â€
www.sojworld.com © April 4, 2018
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