Convention: APC state excos, elected delegates may be excluded

THE fear of post-convention implosion is reportedly shaping the delegate list for the forthcoming national convention of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC). 

The leadership of the party is said to have resolved on a scaled-down exercise, which may keep many delegates away from the gathering, expected to be in Abuja. 

Some leaders have toyed with the idea of virtual convention. The major casualty of the decision is said to be the members of the states working committees, who were given certificates of return in Abuja on Thursday without taking an oath of office. 

The legality of their inauguration has since dominated conversation within the party, while their status is generating fresh controversy. 

While those favoured by the development are claiming the state executive committees have become functional by the reason of the gathering, factional leaders, who lost out, claimed that nothing has been concluded about the crisis at the state level. 

A factional leader of the party in Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye, who claimed to be present at the certificate awarding ceremony, disclosed that only statutory delegates had been cleared to participate at the convention, an arrangement that excludes state excos. 

He has continued to hang on as the caretaker of the state chapter of the party despite his opponent, Ugo Agballah receiving a certificate of return in Abuja. 

Nwoye claimed that since there was no proper inauguration and there mustn’t be a vacuum in the state chapter, he has continued as the acting chairman. 

“I need to set the record straight. Nobody was sworn in as APC chairman (for Enugu chapter) during the inauguration on Thursday. I heard Agballah has been moving about in a motorcade celebrating failure,” he said in a presser. 

Chairman of Lagos chapter of the party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, didn’t pick calls put through to his phone when Sunday Tribune contacted him. 

As of press time, he was yet to reply to an SMS sent to him. 

Elected spokesperson of the party in the state, Honourable Seye Oladejo, also didn’t pick his call when Sunday Tribune called to find out if a date had been fixed for Ojelabi to inaugurate the rest of the state exco, as customary to the party. 

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State chairmen were expected to return from the Abuja programme to inaugurate the rest of their teams, but the confusion surrounding the legality of their inauguration in Abuja seems to have forced a back-off. 

Apart from the state excos, elected national delegates, two per local government, are also allegedly barred from the exercise, since their election was also a product of the processes being challenged by factions that lost out. 

President Muhammadu Buhari was said to be in favour of a scaled-down convention to allow for greater peace engagement. 

The peace committee headed by former Governor of Nasarawa State, Adamu Abdullahi, last week, confessed the magnitude of their assignment was beyond what they expected and demanded time to complete the process. 

The demand for a shift in the convention date was, however, rejected by the Governor Mai Mala-Buni national caretaker body. 

The Adamu committee submitted an interim report and is expected to carry on with the assignment after the convention. 

The statutory delegates, who have no question mark on their participation, are now expected to pick the new national working committee of the party. 

The president is also said to be disposed to the incoming NWC resolving the crisis in the state chapters. 

Leaders of the party, who lost out at the state level, are now reportedly scheming to see their preferred candidates through at the convention. 

The president is said to be holding out on his preferred candidate for the national chairmanship of the party. 

The current acting secretary of the party, John James Akpan Udoedehe, is, however, a top favourite to retain the position in substantive capacity. 

The national secretary position is zoned to the South-South, Sunday Tribune has learnt. 

Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, another member of the Buni committee, is also favoured to clinch the position of deputy national chairman (South) zoned to the South-East. 

Peace may also have finally returned to the Oyo State chapter of the party, with the new exco shared among major stakeholders and contenders. 

However, Senator Teslim Folarin and Chief Niyi Akintola emerged the biggest winners on the unity list. While Folarin was given the chairmanship position, Akintola”s group got the state secretary, organising secretary and treasurer.