Anxiety in APC as convention hangs

There is anxiety amongst members and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the February 26 National Convention of the ruling party hangs in the balance one week to the D-Day.

As it stands, the party faithful cannot tell whether the much-anticipated Convention, where substantive APC National Officers will emerge, is holding as scheduled or not.

The Mai-Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has been implementing activities for the exercise which started with the receipt of the Interim Report of the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Reconciliation Committee of the party.

This was followed by the consideration and adoption of reports of State Congresses on February 2, the inauguration of the State Executives on February 3 and notice to members of the National Convention on Constitution amendment on February 10.

However, the activities came to a halt on Monday, February 14 when the sales of forms to all aspirants vying for National Offices at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja could not start up to the close of work on Friday.

Emissaries of some aspirants who came to the National Secretariat to find out whether the forms were available for purchase were told in hush tones to come back at another time as the documents were not even printed as contracts for that purpose had not even been awarded.

BusinessDay gathered that the CECPC decided not to embark on the sales of forms to avert incurring the wrath of aspirants as the party’s power brokers were planning a consensus arrangement for the offices, especially that of the National Chairman.

Credible sources at the party’s National Secretariat confided in our correspondent that the party leadership decided not to sell the forms because of the ongoing efforts to reach a consensus so that “aspirants would not waste their money to buy form before they will be asked to jettison their ambitions.

“The Caretaker Committee under the Chairman, Mai-Mala Buni is trying to reduce the anger that would follow if all the aspirants obtained forms and they will be asked to step down as there is a plan to have consensus candidate(s), especially for the Chairman. You know the money is non-refundable,” one of the party senior administrative staff said.

For the Office of the Chairman, there are so far over 10 contenders including former Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Saliu Mustapha, former governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Almakura, former governor of Borno State, Alimodu Sheriff and Senator representing Niger East District, Mohammed Sani-Musa as well as former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bawa-Bwari.

Others are former governors of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, Borno State, Kashim Shettima, Gombe State, Danjuma Goje,
Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume, Sunny Moniedafe, Mohammed Saidu-Etsu and former National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Sani Shinkafi as well as a new entrant, former Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu.

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Another stalemate for the Convention is the disagreement over zoning of the seat of the National Chairman as the permutations that the seat be zoned to North-central is not totally welcomed by stakeholders, particularly from North-west and North-east with top aspirants such as the former Governors of Zamfara and Borno; Abdulraziz Yari and Ali Modu-Sheriff respectively kicking against such calls.

There were reports that the APC Governors who in most cases call the shots in the party have been divided on the Convention with others wanting the exercise to hold as planned and others insisting it should be shifted to give room for the resolution of contending issues, topmost of which is consensus.

That could have been why the meeting of the Governors with President Muhamadu Buhari on Tuesday could not hold and he later jetted out to Brussels to attend an African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) summit.

It is expected that Buhari would meet with the Governors upon his return from Brussels to have the final take on the Convention and all the intrigues surrounding it.