Barring any last minute change, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may convene a mini- convention to address the lingering tussle of the party’s board of trustees (BOT) chairmanship as well as to fill the vacant positions of the National Working Committee which were left open due to other appointments given to some members of the party’s NWC.
The APC has been foot-dragging on the composition of its BOT’s leadership since June due to the divergent interests of the party’s bigwigs who have apparently shown interest in the position. The crisis that also arose at the National Assembly which nearly shred its unity also set a discordant tone on the choice of the BOT Chairmanship.
Article 13.2 (X) of the APC Constitution (October 2014 as amended), deals with the powers of the BoT, stipulates: “The Board of Trustees shall elect its chairman, deputy chairman, secretary and other officers as it deems necessary, and formulate its own rules and procedures to regulate its meetings and activities.”
Feelers from the party secretariat show that the race to the chairmanship position is largely between the former Vice President, Atiku Abubarkar and former Governor of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu.
A competent party source, who spoke to BusinessDay on the condition of anonymity, informed that efforts were underway to convene a mini convention in other to proffer a leeway in addressing some daunting challenges confronting the party.
“The leadership of the party may call for a mini convention between now and December to address some issues before us. We are all aware that the final authority of the party lies with the National Convention to ratify on some policies and issues that needed the input of all the stakeholders of the party so we are expecting between now and then that the leadership of the party will prepare the necessary reports that will be transmitted to the convention for appropriate actions to be taken,” the source said.
He also informed that the filling of vacant positions in the National Working Committee (NWC) will come to the front burner at the proposed mini-convention. It would be recalled that the party’s National Welfare Secretary, Umar Dikko Raddah was appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Kastina State Governor while the duo of Babachir David Lawal, vice chairman, North East and Lai Mohammed, the party’s publicity secretary were recently appointed by the president as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a ministerial appointment, respectively.
While it has been reported in some quarters that the deputy publicity of the party, Timi Frank will be asked to step into the shoes of Lai Mohammed, another party source who asked not to be named clarified that if at all the party was going to fill the vacant positions in the party’s NWC, a different individual from the same region with the occupant of that position will be chosen through the convention.
“The constitution of our party does not allow deputies of any of the NWC member to fill their positions whether in acting capacity or other appointment as we have it now. The way it works here in APC is that another party member from the same region with the person that needed to be replaced will be endorsed through our convention. If you check Article 13 of our constitution of our party, it was stated there clearly that it is only from the convention that national officers of the party could be elected or removed as the case maybe. So it is wrong for anyone to say the party is considering Timi Frank or any other person for NWC position, maybe those who do not know the workings or our party are the ones peddling that rumour,” the source said.
KEHINDE ABDULSALAM
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