The looming crisis of confidence in the All
Progressives Congress (APC) over the mode of primary election to adopt for the
2019 elections has taken a new dimension as some aggrieved state chairmen at
the weekend ignored threat of sanction by the party to meet on the way forward.
Possibly acting on the directives of their state
governors, the state chairmen met in Abuja on Sunday to allegedly plot against
the party's decision to adopt direct primaries for choosing candidates for 2019
general election.
The party national leadership had earlier raised the alarm
over the meeting which it said is an attempt to alter the decision of party on
mode of primary election.
A statement issued early on Sunday morning by the acting
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Yekini Nabene, cautioned the members
against going ahead with what it described as illegal meeting or be ready to be
sanctioned.
However, sensing that the leadership of party has noticed
their plan, the aggrieved party state chairmen across the country quickly moved
their meeting to another venue, Barcelona Hotel in Wuse II in Abuja.
Apart from state chairmen, two ex-officio members also
attended yesterday's meeting.
It was however, gathered that most of those that attended
the meeting were APC state chairmen.
It was also learnt that the National Working Committee (NWC)
of APC immediately reached out to the Borno State chairman, who chaired the
meeting of the Forum of state chairmen, to clarify the position of the party on
the issue of method of primaries.
One of the state chairmen, who spoke on condition
of anonymity at the end of the meeting, said the party wrote a letter to them
yesterday to clarify issues.
Although he did not state the content of the letter, it was learnt that the party may have caved in to pressure, and reversed its
insistence on the use of only direct primary mode of primary.
When it was asked one of the chairmen what the
outcome of their meeting was, his brandished a letter written with APC's
letterhead, saying it was sent to them by the party.
One of APC National Vice Chairmen
from the North emerging from the meeting.
Although he did not want to be quoted, he told journalists
that the meeting was essentially to protest against the highhandedness of the
party leadership in imposing direct primaries on the members.
An ex-officio member of APC who also attended the meeting
said the state governors and even some national officers are not happy with the
direct primary option, adding that as leaders of the party in the states, they
will do everything to protect their interest.
According to him, "The state chairmen will do everything
possible to resist the imposition of direct primaries on the party, including
passing a vote of confidence on the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole,
and his NWC members.”
Signs that there were still unresolved issues on the mode of
primaries for the APC came to the fore when the party issued a statement
contradicting what two governors told journalists on the outcome of the National Executive
Committee meeting.
It was gathered that some governors and other stakeholders
were not comfortable with the decision of the party to make direct mode of primary election almost compulsory, and
had planned a meeting at the Transcorp Hilton Hotels yesterday afternoon.
The aim of the meeting, it was learnt, was to raise issues
against the adoption of direct primaries and also to seek ways of stopping the NWC
led by Oshiomhole from enforcing it.
However, the leadership of APC got wind of the
planned meeting and warned the conveners to
desist from such or "they will be dealt with in line with the party's
constitution at the appropriate time."
The APC's statement read: "The attention of the NWC
of the APC has been drawn to an illegal meeting scheduled to hold on Sunday at
Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja by some members of our party organs, with a
view to fault the decisions made by the NWC followed by the National Executive
Committee (NEC) as regards the mode of the party's primary elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment