Barring any last-minute move, the plan to have a consensus candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman’s position at Saturday’s convention might have collapsed.
Six aspirants, who obtained forms to vie for the position, will face a screening panel today in Abuja.
Those in the race are former Governors Abdullahi Adamu, Tanko Al-Makura and George Akume. Others are Saliu Mustapha, Senator Sani Musa and Abubakar Bwari. All of them are from the Northcentral.
Secretary of the screening committee Emmanuel Otagburuagu in a statement said: “His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, the chairman and Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, the co-chairman of the APC 2022 National Convention Screening Committee, hereby invites all the aspirants to the screening exercise scheduled as follows:
“Tuesday 22nd March 2022, screening of national chairman and other National Working Committee aspirants at the Katsina State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro Abuja.
”Wednesday, 23rd March 2022, screening of aspirants into the Zonal offices, time 10 am at the same venue.
The party had earlier fixed March 20 for the screening of all aspirants for the NWC and zonal positions.
Rising from its meeting yesterday, the convention’s media committee expressed joy that the APC governors and other leaders had put behind them all the bickering witnessed in the recent weeks.
The media committee, according to its secretary and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted the panel’s Chairman, Governor Abdullahi Sule, as saying that the only path to a hitch-free convention was in carrying everyone along.
The statement by Garba reads: “The Leadership of the party under Governor Mai Mala Buni and the members of the caretaker committee are making every effort to take everyone along and I believe it is the only path for a successful Convention and victory at elections. We believe in unity in diversity, and this is the mantra of our convention.”
Shehu added that the Committee had broken into subcommittees that have speedily moved on with their various assignments aimed at delivering a successful convention by Saturday.
Read Also: APC convention: Southwest picks Kekemeke, Omisore
* Buni resumes, saves Akpanudoedehe
Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee, Mai Mala Buni, resumed duty yesterday after his return from a medical vacation in the United Arab Emirates.
He arrived at the secretariat of the party at about 3 pm and went straight into a meeting with the Secretary…John Akpanudoedehe. They were later joined by the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma.
The Nation gathered from a source close to the meeting that some members of the caretaker committee threatened not to walk out of the meeting if Akpanudoedehe sat in council with them.
The members were said to have insisted that the committee has since March 8 passed a vote on no confidence in the Secretary and vowed not to have him at the committee’s routine meetings.
It was gathered that when the members insisted on not having Akpanudoedehe attend the meeting, Buni pleaded and apologised to them before they calmed down.
After the meeting, Uzodimma that the convention was realizable.
He said: The APC convention, I don’t know what kind of sign you want to see before you’ll know that convention will hold on Saturday. As at yesterday, all the subcommittees have started meeting: the Screening Committee, the Accreditation Committee, I’m aware that they are already meeting. The venue is being prepared.
Aregbesola’s men, ex-speaker bicker over Omisore’s ambition as National Secretary
Meanwhile, loyalists of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola under the aegis of The Osun Progressives(TOP) and Osun State Assembly, ex-speaker, Adejare Bello, have differed over the ambition of Senator Iyiola Omisore to become the national secretary of the APC.
The Nation recalls that the party shared out two posts to the Southwest. The zone was said to have nominated Isaac Kekemeke (Ondo State) as its candidate for national vice chairman and Senator Iyiola Omisore (Osun) as secretary. .