APC convention may hold August

The coast is now clear for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to proceed with its mid-term national convention which was aborted twice in the last six months.

A Presidency source revealed to Nigerian Tribune that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had received the blessing of President Muhammadu Buhari to open discussion with the party’s stakeholders on modalities for the convention which had been

put on hold following the medical vacation of the president.

It will be recalled that Professor Osinbajo met with President Buhari on Tuesday in the United Kingdom.

According to a source, the gathering of the highest organ of the APC may hold in August.

It was also learnt that meetings of the party’s national caucus and the National Executive Committee (NEC) where modalities and formal announcement of date for the non-elective convention were to be unveiled were postponed last May by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, following President Buhari’s medical trip to the United Kingdom.

The postponement was, however, viewed by party stakeholders as a deft move by the embattled national chairman of the party to ward off moves by aggrieved, but powerful chieftains of the ruling party smarting to remove him from office.

By virtue of Article 12.3, 12.5 of the APC 2014 Constitution (as amended), the president and vice-president, among others, are members of  the national caucus and NEC of the ruling party.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that meetings of the two statutory organs of the party always preceded a meeting of the highest organ of

the party, the national convention, where major decisions on the party policies, programmes, including ratification of the amendment of the party constitution were taken.

Article 13 (1, i-vii)  of the party’s constitution read in part: “The final authority of the party shall rest with the national convention which shall have powers to ratify policies and programmes of the party; elect or remove national officers of the party; elect the presidential candidate of the party; receive reports from the national executive and from any other committee and or organ of the party, and take appropriate decisions on the reports and or recommendations; amend the constitution of the party from time to time as the need may arise; delegate any of its powers to the Board of Trustees, National

Executive Committee  or to any organ of the party and take any action as may be conducive to the promotion of the aims and objectives of the Party as laid down in this constitution.”

Nigerian Tribune also gathered that the governors had met with the acting president last May, to discuss with him on modalities for the convention in the absence of President Buhari, shortly after  their meeting with the national working committee of

the party.

Meanwhile, the Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, who spoke with newsmen at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja before leading his colleagues to a meeting with Professor Osinbajo, said the governors had initially opened discussion with President Buhari on the convention before the latter’s medical trip to the United Kingdom.

He said: “The issue of the national convention was raised and we had even taken a decision on it at the last meeting, but unfortunately, the president is not here as the leader of the party.

“What we agreed was since we have an acting president, the team which was supposed to meet with the president with suggested date, we now agreed that the same process should start again with the acting president.

“This is a convention in our thinking and we want to conduct a convention which is constitutional and the leader of the party must

also be at the convention. So, at the time we agreed to meet with Mr President on the issue, unfortunately the president had to travel out.

“Since the approach was first to the president, we all agreed to meet with the acting president with the same process to agree on a date for the convention.”

The governors and certain concerned stakeholders pushing for the convention, however, developed cold feet when they got the wind of  plot by certain forces at the party’s national secretariat working in alliance with the cabal within the Presidency smarting to institute litigation to halt the conduct of the convention in the absence of the ailing president.

“The argument of the cabal was that although the party constitution accommodates vice-president as a member of national caucus and NEC of the party, only his boss, President Buhari is acknowledged as the leader of the party,” the source noted.

The party’s constitution stipulates that the convention is expected to hold once in two years, but it had since been observed in the breach by the Odigie-Oyegun-led national working committee.