Parallel congresses: APC will overcome present challenges, says chieftain

A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi on Monday said the party would overcome its present challenges and become stronger.

Olusi, a member of the APC Elders Forum in the state, made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the holding of parallel congresses in some states on Saturday, though an issue did not mean differences among members were not reconcilable.

According to him, the development is not unusual as such differences are normal in a growing democracy like Nigeria’s.

Olusi said the issue should not be seen as an end to the party’s ongoing reconciliation process being led by a former Lagos governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

He said the parallel congresses would rather help the process to succeed as it had exposed all the places where the committee needed to do serious work.

The chieftain charged the Tinubu committee to rise to the occasion, expressing the optimism that the party would be more cohesive and stronger at the end of the process.

“You see disagreements are normal in politics, and we have seen that in the last congresses of our party; but that is not to say there is a big crisis or that the reconciliation process is dead.

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“I believe a reconciliation effort led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is still on course.

“The truth is, the issue of congresses came in the midst of reconciliation and the various parties to be reconciled had to go for congresses, that is why things happened that way.

“The good thing is that the results of the congresses had shown the enormity of reconciliation the party has to do.

“I believe the party is in control; all grievances will be addressed as some held parallel congresses just to prove a point.

“I think the party will overcome all of these problems to become better at the end of the day,” he said.

Olusi, however, said he believed that only one Congress was held in Lagos, saying any other one could not stand.

He said any other congress aside that of the party Secretariat was a nullity, but expressed the optimism that all issues in the state chapter would also be resolved.

“There was no parallel Congress in Lagos; you cannot build a house on nothing. There must be a foundation.

“We had ward and council congresses and they were not challenged, since there were no parallel versions of the previous congresses, we cannot have a parallel state congress.

“However, I understand that some people are aggrieved, we are all brothers and I am sure everything will be resolved,” he said.