The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed Saturday, October 2 to conduct its state congresses across the country.
National Secretary of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator James Akpanudoedehe, announced this in a statement on Monday.
He added that the party’s leadership has scheduled Wednesday to commence the sale of forms for the exercise.
Details later…
The Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has tentatively fixed Local Government Congresses for the first week of September 2021.
The new timeline for the local government congress was disclosed in a statement by the CECPC Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe in Abuja on Friday.
The secretary in the statement refuted reports that the Caretaker Committee of the party has indefinitely suspended the local government and state congresses.
Describing the reports as false, Akpanudoedehe said, “the CECPC has tentatively fixed LGA congresses for the first week of September 2021.”
The secretary recalled that during the inauguration of Ward Congress Appeal Committees on Wednesday, “the official information from the party was that dates and guidelines for the LGA congresses will be fixed after the conclusion of the Ward Congresses Appeal exercise followed by due consideration of the Appeal Committee’s reports by the CECPC.
“On behalf of the CECPC Chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni, we assure our teeming party supporters, members, and leaders of our unflinching commitment to credible, transparent, and participatory congresses leading to the National Convention of our great party,” Akpanudoedehe stated.
The party’s ward congress took place on July 31, 2021, in 33 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while the party suspended the exercise in Anambra, Bayelsa, and the Zamfara states.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says it is recommending consensus option for election of party officials at all levels in the forthcoming congresses to reduce possible acrimony.
Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), said this in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
“For us, we have to take into consideration the need to accommodate everyone because APC is a party for all Nigerians.
“We are encouraging states to adopt the consensus arrangement because it saves costs and reduces acrimony.
“That is why when you look at Article 20 of our Constitution which talks about elections, the first thing there is for members to try reaching consensus,” he said.
Akpanudoedehe added that when the consensus option failed, party members could then cast ballots.
He said that the party was making sure that it did not leave any room for the opposition to sponsor people to cause confusion within its fold.
The party’s congresses/conventions are expected to commence on July 31 with ward congresses.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has rescheduled its congresses and national convention initially scheduled to commence this month (July).
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that there were fears in the state chapters of the party over a possible postponement of the congresses and national convention.
Confirming the development, the National Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and Executive Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni and National Secretary, John Udoedebe in a letter to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said a new date will be communicated to the commission soon.
However, the party leaders did not state reasons for the postponement of the congresses and convention in their July 6 letter to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and obtained by TNG.
TNG reports that the initial timetable and schedule of activities by the party’s Director of Organization, Professor Al-Mustapha Ussiju Medaner showed that the congresses would commence with the sale of nomination forms for the ward congress from 1st to end by 7th July, but as of the close of work on Friday, no state has taken possession of the nomination forms for any of the congresses.
The timetable released by the party fixed inauguration of Ward/LGA Congress Screening/Screening Appeal Committees for 10th July 2021; Ward Congress is billed for 24th July, Local Government Congress is slated for 14th August 2021 and the State Congress will hold on the 18th September 2021.
TNG reports that the party also recently extended its membership registration/revalidation exercise in four states
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it plans to begin sales of forms for its congresses on July 1.
Prof. Al-Mustapha Medaner, APC Director of Organisation, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Medaner said the decision followed the approval of the Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party.
He said purchase of forms for ward congresses would take place from July 1 to July 7, while inauguration of ward and local government congresses, screening and screening appeals committee would hold on July 10.
Medaner announced the timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of congresses across wards, local government areas and states for election of party officials.
He added that screening of aspirants for the ward positions would take place from July 12 to July 16, while inauguration of ward and local government congresses and congresses appeals committee would hold on July 19 and ward congresses on July 24.
Medaner said that appeals arising from ward congresses would be entertained from July 26 to July 29.
“Purchase of forms for the local government positions will be from July 26 to July 30 and screening of aspirants for local government party positions will be from July 19 to July 26,” he said.
Medaner said that appeals arising from local government congresses would be entertained from Aug.16 to Aug. 20.
He said the sales of forms for state executives positions would take place from Aug. 23 to Aug. 27, while inauguration of screening, screening appeals committee for state executives would hold on Aug. 30.
“Screening of aspirants for state executives will be from Sept.6 to Sept. 8 and appeals arising from screening for state executives will hold from Sept. 12 to Sept. 15.
“State congresses will hold on Sept. 18 and appeals arising from state congresses will hold from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.
“By this notice, aspirants will purchase forms as follows: ward chairman – N10, 000; ward vice chairman, secretary and treasurer – N5,000, other offices – N 2,000.
“Local government chairman – N25,000, local government vice chairman, secretary and treasurer – N15,000.00; other offices – N10, 000,” he said.
Medaner said female and physically challenged aspirants would pay 50 per cent of the prescribed fees for each positions.
By Godwin Etakibuebu
At the last count, Eight States of the Federation have drawn up parallel Executives to counter what some people called “authentic Executives” of the ruling All Progressive Congress [APC] during the recently concluded Congresses. One of the most unbelievable States where this happened is Lagos. That some people, albeit members of the APC in Lagos State could challenge the supremacy of the de-facto “Jagaban” of the South-West politics would remain one of the wonders of modern Nigeria.
The emergence of the parallel Executives in the Eight States was with re-introduction of politics of blood-spinning into the Nigerian polity and this is the most unfortunate dimension of the APC debacle. These Eight States of Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Zamfara, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kwara and Delta, where parallel Executives emerged on Saturday May 12, 2018, saw a little of blood-spilling. A few people died in some of these States while in others, it was a day of blood-bath; like the case in Ondo State where notable citizens were grossly humiliated as most of them were stripped naked. This is without mentioning Imo State where Rochas Okorocha; the APC governor, was completely demystified and dethroned by machinery of APC itself.
The irony of this sordid raw show of power is the fact that the perpetrators; both victims and victors, are all members of the All Progressive Congress. They are all members of the same APC family, speaking the same language, eating from the same table, wearing the same “Aso Ebi” with the same political blood-genotype running through their vein and indeed the children of the same wicked mother; a mother like Jezebel. This is where it takes a more deadly and dreadful manifestation for the larger society.
If in the process of a “family” congresses like the one under discuss, lives could easily be terminated without qualms, what happens when this deadly “family” of APC shall meet with other personae dramatis of other political parties in an outdoor show of general elections, like the one we are awaiting in 2019?
This is not saying that APC is the only political party in Nigeria with monopoly of violence. It would be absurd to say so because as a political technocrat, l have observed over the years that the People Democratic Party [PDP] was a showroom of violence under President Olusegun Obasanjo. Through his two-times tenure of eight years, mostly the last four years, violent death was a free gift for members of the Nigerian Political Ruling Class except that it was more generously distributed amongst the PDP members. We shall talk more on this as well in this discuss.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change [a political party the former Military Head of State formed in April 2009] was another political party that introduced violence, albeit deadly one for that matter, into the Nigerian polity, only at post-election level. The Party which participated in the 2011 General Election but could not deliver its presidential candidate to the Villa in Abuja for reason of abysmal performance, succeeded in delivering souls of many Nigerians, mostly those youths that went on service for their fatherland, to the great-beyond.
Of course, the First and Second Republics had its own version of violence displayed, more in the brutality of the First Republic than the Second Republic. It was a free for all show of madness in the First Republic while there was a moderation of violent outburst; properly moderated by the person of Shehu Shagari with his compatriots, during the Second Republic.
The years between the First and the Second Republics were the years the Military Boys, with their styles of “decorated violence”, made incursion into the Nigerian political scene and took away entirely, serenity in addition to respects for lives and properties. They came to loot, they came to destroy and the came to kill. They, all of them, achieved hundred percent maximal performances on this record.
Must we really accommodate discussion of that era in this exercise? Suffice to say that theirs was an orgy era in the annals of Nigerian history that we begged never to come back to again except to add, revealingly anyway, that most of them who unleashed terrorism on us while they wore the military uniform then are still with us today as political personae dramatis in civilian mufti [Babaringa or Agbada]. May God change their hearts from that of . . . to that of human being so that we can know peace and tranquility in our land for ever.
What did the events of the APC nation-wide congresses, recently concluded, with its frightful results portray for Nigeria’s emerging polity, particularly in 2019 general elections? If the truth must be told, there is likely going to be manifestation of danger ahead for the Nigerian political horizon if APC leads our country into a general election, come 2019. Let us evaluate some facts of this matter.
It is a fact of life that one can only give what he/she has. What you don’t have you cannot give. Unfortunately the All Progressive Congress have not demonstrated enough capacity of peace creation or bringing about an atmosphere that creates and enforces maintenance of peace since its inception. Since it takes over governance, brutal killings have taken a frightening crescendo all over Nigeria, it is so overwhelming that nearly every ethnic nationalities is falling back to the state of nature for survival. The danger of falling into the state of nature is obvious because that is the place where there is “no brother in jungle”. Thomas Hobbes [1588-1679] described it as a place “where life is brutal, short and uncertain”.
It is what APC has that it took into and manifested in its recently concluded congresses and what it took there was not peace. It is introduction of politics of violence which is actually very sad. But then, it shouldn’t have been our business except and until we look at the implication of the action as it might affect the national psyche of what may be facing us in 2019. This is where it gives us deep concern.
It had been said earlier in this work that our dearly cherished former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure turned political killing to an art. At a time during his tenure, the President became the Spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force whenever there was political killing. He would be the first to tell the whole world that “it was a case of robbery”. In others he would visit and promised heaven and earth without actually doing anything. He promised hope when his own Chief Law officer, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice; Bola Ige, was politically killed but delivered nothing.
He {Obasanjo] visited the mother of Funso Williams who was politically murdered in his residence on Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi, Lagos, and promised “everything to bring the perpetrators to book”. At the end of the day, Obasanjo did nothing, as usual. Time will fail me should l go on mentioning Harry Marshal, Aminoasari Dikibo and hundreds of others that fell during Obasanjo’s tenure. Suffice to say that the government which Obasanjo handed over to his successor was a “killing organism”.
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua [Obasanjo successor] did not continue along that line. And of course, he did not live long enough to be read like a book along this line. His successor, Goodluck Jonathan publicly declared to the whole world that “my ambition is not worth any Nigerians’ blood”. He walked and lived the talk. He removed Nigerian from the map of “politics of kill and go”. He removed the two big “B” – blood and bullet – from the battle ground of electioneering in Nigeria’s body politics. We owe this man; Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the duty of eulogizing him about this.
The game looks like changing again since the All Progressive Congress took over reign of government in Nigeria, as illegal detentions of citizens, police brutality which include escalation of extra-judicial killing are returning back to the public domain.
It is for this reason that we must be concerned and worry about congresses that are now unveiling bullets and blood again. In Lagos for instance, someone was reported shot dead somewhere at Agege during the Congress while blood flowed very freely in some other local governments, Amuwo Odofin inclusive. In Ondo, we had earlier spoken about what happened there – gory of bloodshed. In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, there was enough shooting to close down the judiciary. It was the same story in Ekiti, in Ibadan and many other places in the country.
If this type of violence is what APC shall be introducing to the general election of 2019, then we have much to fear for democracy and Nigeria. God forbids it, may it never happen.
Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
godwin@thenewsguru.ng.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as ‘an evil wind that blows no good.’
The opposition party made the description in a reaction to the alleged violence, bloodletting and irregularities that trailed the ruling party’s just concluded congresses that held simultaneously across the country.
It said the party was doing this by engaging in actions that instigate bloody conflicts and breakdown of law and order among Nigerians.
The party said this in a statement on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The PDP expressed horror at the rate of violence which it claims has been “the way of the (APC) party since its emergence”.
The statement read in part:
“We are terrified by the spate of violence, mayhem, bloodletting and massive corruption associated with the All Progressives Congress (APC), both in governance and its internal activities.
“Since its emergence, the APC and its leaders have continued to drag our nation towards a state of anarchy by engaging in actions that instigate bloody conflicts and breakdown of law and order among Nigerians, including in their fold as a party.
“From the rascally attempt to overrun a court of competent jurisdiction in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to halt the wheel of justice, the burning of their own secretariat in Owerri, Imo state, the gruesome murder of their own members in Lagos and Oyo States to the malignant disputation and lust for power by its leaders across the nation, it is clear that the APC is not organic but a soulless mob without any form of conscience and integrity; an ‘evil wind that blows no good’.”
According to the party, party congresses which are designed to allow members interface and resolve divergences amicably “has been an issue for the APC as it could not actuate this simplest tradition of political parties, making its congress a threat to our democracy.”
“APC has become a symbol and harbinger of malevolence, which, by every indication, is on a sordid throttle of taking our nation to the long forgotten state of nature where only the mighty rules; the state of anarchy.
“From its cannibalistic proclivities, the world can see why the APC and its insensitive federal government care less about the lives and welfare of Nigerians, resulting in the escalation of violence, bloodletting, mass killings, extra-judicial executions, persecution of citizens, abuse of human rights, constitutional violations, including invasion of the National Assembly as well as attack on federal lawmakers and judicial officers,” the statement added.
The PDP charged Nigerians, “irrespective of creed, class or sectional persuasion, to be at alert, look beyond personal interests, rise in unison and use all democratic instruments to stop the APC in this dangerous drive to further wreck the nation and plunge it into a state of anarchy.”