•Says opposition merely out to grab power for personal aggrandisement
Barring any unforeseen circumstance, the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears set to hold the meeting of its highest decision-making organ, the National Executive Committee (NEC) after it was postponed a couple of times in 2024.
The delay in convening the meeting has generated much concern among some top-notch in APC, including a former vice national chairman of the party in the North-West, Mallam Salihu Lukman and a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.
The National Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, confirmed that the party will hold the NEC meeting “possibly this February.”
The NEC and caucus meetings, earlier scheduled for September 11 and 12, 2024, respectively, at APC national secretariat, in Abuja, were called off by the party.
Consequently, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr Felix Morka, had promised that a new date would be announced later.
In a two-paragraph statement, Mr Morka stated that the new dates for the meetings would be communicated in due course.
The statement read: “Members of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are hereby informed that the National Caucus and National Executive Committee meetings scheduled to be held on September 11 and 12, 2024, respectively, have been postponed.
“New dates for the meetings will be communicated in due course.”
At a national conference meant to fachion out how to further deepen democracy in the country, El-Rufai, who is among the founding leaders of the APC, as well as former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the various organs in the party have not been holding meetings.
“I am the founding member of the APC. But frankly, I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. I don’t even know if it is a one-man show. It is a zero-man show,” he said.
Similarly, Mallam Lukman, the ex-Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum, had expressed worry because of the delay in the party holding its NEC to address a number of issues as the highest decision-making organ of the APC.
However, speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, the national secretary of the APC, Dr Basiru said necessary arrangements are ongoing to convene the meeting possibly this month.
“We are in the process of convening a NEC meeting possibly this February,” he told the Nigerian Tribune when asked on what was delaying the meeting of the highest decision-making organ of the APC.
Dr Basiru also used the opportunity to clarify other issues concerning the ruling party, including the speculated plan by the opposition parties to team up against the APC ahead of the 2027 general election in the country.
The legal practitioner said the party is not losing sleep over whatever plan and collaboration the opposition parties are contemplating concerning the next general election as the APC remains focused in its set agenda.
He expressed doubts on the possibility of a merger among the opposition parties due to what he perceived as the inordinate political ambitions of those he described as power mongers in their rank.
The two-time commissioner in Osun State also accused the opposition of resorting to abuse and insult instead of playing the genuine role of opposition under civil rule, citing what obtained between the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic.
“We are not afraid of anything. APC has never complained to anyone. You will realise that it is the opposition parties that are coming out to say it is the APC that is not allowing them to have a stable party.
“We are not afraid of anyone, and let me tell you this, the so-called oppositions are not even performing the role of oppositions beyond issuing abuses.
“When Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in opposition to Shehu Shagari, anytime Shagari brought out a policy, Chief Awolowo would come out with an alternative policy and show people the way he would have done it. Opposition is not just about abusing or slandering social media.
“The question is: for the economic policies of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, what are the alternatives that the opposition has brought out beyond also only planning for the 2027 elections?
“If 2027 comes, what do you want to campaign with, and what alternatives are you giving the people. They don’t have any alternative.
“The so-called oppositions are just power mongers. The only job they have is that they want to access government power for personal aggrandisement without any programme or policies for the Nigerian people. I am not a soothsayer but they will not be able to merge because all the leading opposition figures are driven by personal ambitions.
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