The Governor Mai-Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has assured party members that it would conduct a rancour-free national convention in 2022.
CECPC also assured that it would bequeath a progressive party and structure that will continue to entrench APC government at all levels.
John Akpanudoedehe, the national secretary of APC caretaker committee who gave the assurance in a statement to celebrate the new year, said despite the challenges brought by events of 2021 such as several waves of the COVID-19 and the omicron variant, the year was an eventful one for the party and the Buni CECPC.
Akpanudoedehe said in fulfilling its mandate, the CECPC in 2021 successfully conducted ward, local government, and state congresses to elect substantial party executives while it had on December 20, 2021 deliberated on the planned national convention and resolved to set up sub-committees on budgeting and other relevant substructures for the national convention.
“On other fronts, the 13-member caretaker committee while delivering on its mandates has continued to break barriers and achieve truly remarkable milestones.
“Following CECPC’s conduct of a nationwide membership registration, revalidation and register update exercise, APC is now unarguably the most populous political party in Nigeria with a membership base of over 40 million registered members.
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“The caretaker committee has established a truly unified, strong, repositioned and progressive political unit that has gone on to win a number of critical elections across the country.
“Under the leadership of Governor Mai Mala Buni, the CECPC has created a member-centered party structure — one that guarantees the full participation of all members in decision making and Party activities. It has won into the APC fold three serving state Governors and scores of parliamentarians from other political parties.
“It has successfully reviewed the APC Constitution. It has scrutinised and paid for the inherited debts with respect to the services to the party in the past administration. It has ended and resolved inherited litigations and court cases instituted by many aggrieved members against the party for various reasons by reaching out to the aggrieved members who have consequently responded to the CECPC reconciliation.
“It has purchased the building housing the APC National Secretariat which was previously leased and has been subsequently named as Buhari House, giving APC a permanent abode in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“It has established a National Reconciliation Committee under the leadership of Sen. Abdulahi Adamu to reach out to aggrieved members, in the current dispensation, with the view to resolving areas of misunderstanding and proactively preventing a crisis. The committee has received various memoranda and has recorded a good number of resolutions that have improved the Party’s cohesion subsequently,” the statement read in parts.
On the 2023 general elections, Akpanudoedehe said; the new leadership of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has shown early signs that it is not different from the immediate-past leadership of the same ‘failed’ party.
“Clearly, PDP’s sole intent is power grabbing by any means, as it ignores the need for genuine restitution. However, PDP cannot return to power in a free and fair election because the electorate are intelligent and wiser and know that PDP has nothing to offer Nigerians going by its sordid antecedents. In the meantime, we patiently await the PDP leadership to take up our challenge to return stolen public funds and assets still in possession of politically exposed persons during its 16-year administration.
“To reiterate our strong conviction, democracy is as strong as the political parties it produces. We must break from the past and reject practices of imposition of candidates and electoral fraud which the main opposition has refused to discard. As a political party and in line with the progressive ideals APC fiercely defends, our commitment to free, fair and credible elections is unwavering. In all elections, valid votes must count and the popular will of the electorate must prevail,” he added.
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