The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) rescheduled National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings will now hold on August 2nd and 3rd respectively, The Nation can report.
It was gathered from a highly placed source in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party that the new dates were communicated to the party leadership by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday.
The National Caucus meeting is slated to hold at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa on Wednesday evening.
The National Executive Committee (NEC), which is the highest policy-making organ of the party, will meet the next day at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel also in Abuja.
The NWC had to postpone the two meetings following the voluntary resignation of the former National Chairman and Secretary, and Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Iyiola Omisore respectively from office last week Monday.
The two meetings were initially fixed for 18 and 19 of July 2023.
Acting National Chairman of the party, Senator Abubakar Kyari had on Monday, after the meeting of NWC told newsmen of the postponement of the meetings.
According to Kyari, “With this recent development in the change of leadership, I like to inform everybody here that the proposed national caucus meeting slated for Tuesday 18th July 2023 and the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC slated for Wednesday 19th July 2023 has hereby been postponed. And this postponement will not be indefinite but a new date will be communicated shortly.”
The Nation, however, gathered on Friday that following the choice of the President, the NWC had fixed the two crucial meetings for August 2nd and 3rd.
“The NWC received a letter from Mr President on Wednesday intimating us that he is disposed to attending the two meetings on the 2nd and 3rd of August, 2023 and on the strength of the letter, we are equally set for the meetings,” our source hinted.
Ahead of the two meetings, NWC met on Thursday for about 5 hours to prepare the agenda for the two engagements, they also collectively looked into the account books of the party in line with the constitution of the party, to enable it to present the financial records at the party’s NEC meeting.
NWC at its meeting scrutinised the list of members of the five statutory committees to be set up by NEC at the recommendation of the NWC in line with Article 18 of the constitution.
Confirming the new dates, a source in the NWC said, “The stage is set for the caucus and NEC meetings. That was why our meeting on Thursday lasted for five hours. We were able to review the agenda proposal by the Secretariat for the two crucial engagements.
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“We have our financial reports ready, the membership list of the five statutory committees recommended for approval at the NEC meeting.
“ The vacant positions of the National Chairman and Secretary are expected to be filled at the NEC meeting. Dr Umar Ganduje and Senator Ajibola Basiru have been pencilled down to fill the two positions at NEC.”
Meanwhile, immediate past Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje has visited the immediate past chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu.
Ganduje is reportedly being considered to succeed Adamu as the chairman of the ruling party.
But the APC said reports that Ganduje and Senator Ajibola Basiru had been penciled down for the positions of National Chairman and National Secretary were mere speculations.
Meanwhile, Ganduje’s hope of becoming the next National Chairman of the ruling party got a boost yesterday following his endorsement by the elders of the party from the North Central geopolitical zone.
Led by the former Military Governor of Plateau and Katsina states, Major General Lawrence Onoja (rtd), the elders from the six states in the zone, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) declared their support for the former Kano State governor at a press conference in Abuja.
Onoja said the elders were taking a cue from the Progressive Governors’ Forum’s (PGF) recent decision in endorsing a candidate to avoid any leadership gap in the party.
According to the retired military leader, “They (PGF)did that also in their wisdom, and in line with the approval of the leader of our party, President Bola Tinubu, on the candidate of choice. That candidate is none other than the former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje. They have weighed his leadership capacity, commitment and experience to lead the party well before taking that decision.
“It is not surprising therefore that since the Progressive Governors’ Forum endorsed and announced Ganduje’s candidature, many political interest groups have similarly endorsed him to lead the party in an acting capacity.
“We as representatives of elders of the party from North Central Zone are here today in continuation of the series of endorsements of Abdullahi Ganduje. We represent different elder groups of the party in the zone.
“Of the series of endorsements, ours is one of the most significant because we are from the same geo-political zone as the former National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu who resigned recently. We are concerned with merit, quality and continuity in leadership for our party, We are in no doubt Ganduje will play that chairmanship role very effectively in an acting capacity.
“For these reasons, we hereby collectively endorse him to chair our great party to continue from where Abdullahi Adamu stopped in steering the ship of the party until substantive leadership positions are filled at the next convention in line with the party’s constitution,” he maintained.