Feb. 26 APC Convention: Commtte chair wants extention of meeting date

The Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led Reconciliation Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress has asked for an extension of time beyond the February 26 convention date of the party.

Adamu made this disclosure on Monday while addressing some journalists after submitting his committee’s interim report. This has cast doubt that the proposed national convention of the party would hold on February 26 as earlier scheduled.

The Chairman of the nine-man reconciliatory committee said it was left for the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to determine whether to accede to the committee’s recommendations or not before going ahead with the convention.

Adamu, who is also a former governor of Nasarawa State, disclosed that more work needs to be done to reconcile aggrieved party faithful across the country. He said the committee has requested for an additional week to explore avenues of achieving total reconciliation of aggrieved members, stressing that they were able to consider no fewer than 47 petitions filed by aggrieved party faithful from various parts of the country.

According to him: “Reconciliation is a work in progress. Until we get the final report from the national secretariat, we cannot say it is successful. We cannot declare our own work successful. We will be more deceitful if we do so. For us, we can say our work is inconclusive.

“As of today, we still have petitions coming in. People are still trooping in to come and see us. And we cannot in all fairness stop them. Nobody can pronounce with certitude on political conflicts that are based on ego, in some cases, perception. None of us have control over that.”

In his response after receiving the interim report, a member of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator Ken Nnamani, who stood in for the chairman, Mai Mala Buni, expressed gratitude to Adamu and his committee, stressing that the committee’s findings will contribute in no small measure to ensure a successful convention and the general election.

He gave the assurance that the CECPC will carefully study the report and ensure it is faithfully implemented to improve the unity and strength of the party. He further disclosed that the party now has over 41 million registered members, making it “Africa’s largest party.”

He said: “As you are aware, the party conducted a successful membership registration and revalidation exercise and now proudly has over 41 million membership making APC Africa’s largest political party and Nigeria’s leading party. With this numerical strength, APC remains the party that can confidently win elections with a landslide victory in all the national elections.”

Members of the reconciliation committee, who accompanied Adamu to the APC secretariat, include Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo, who served as secretary; former Benue State governor, Senator George Akume; former Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime; former Jigawa State governor, Ali Sa’ad Birnin Kudu; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Suleiman Argungu; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Dr. Oluranti Adebule and Cross River State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Beta Edu.