Concerned APC Members Protest, Call for Dissolution of NWC

By Adedayo Akinwale

Concerned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, demanding the dissolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Its convener, Okpokwu Ogenyi, while addressing journalists in Abuja on behalf of the protesters, said the successes of the party in the 2015 general election were being bastardised on daily bases by those saddled with the responsibility of managing the party’s administration.

The protesters were armed with placards with inscriptions like: ‘The current NWC had destroyed our party’; ‘Our NWC is a disgrace’; ‘NWC has failed us, we want it dissolved; the confusion is in the NWC, We Want it Dissolved; and ‘Concerned APC members says APC NWC must go’, among others.

Ogenyi added that the present NWC has caused the party to lose seven states to the opposition, adding that APC had 24 governors before the present NWC, but now the party has 18 governors.

He said on Sunday, the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, left the ruling party to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asking if the party was making progress or going backward.

Ogenyi stated: “Today, we have four individuals who are members of the National Working Committee parading themselves as Acting National Chairmen of our party, what a dance of shame! We are being ridiculed on daily basis. The same NWC caused the party not to feature candidates in Zamfara and Rivers States in the 2019 general election.

“Fellow patriotic members of the APC, just as the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is killing corruption before corruption kills Nigeria, as a party, we must do away with the present National Working Committee before it kills the party completely, the time is now.

“We are calling on the highest decision making body, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party, to immediately call for NEC meeting and dissolve the National Working Committee with immediate effect.”

Ogenyi stated categorically that any attempt to further keep the present NWC is to send the APC into its early grave, adding that party members would not continue to fold their arms and allow their collective efforts to be ruined.

He warned that their action was just a warning protest, insisting that after the expiration of 72 hours, the protest would be extended to other states.

The protesters therefore called on President Buhari, Senator Bola Tinubu, the President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajablamila to support the dissolution of the present NWC if the part must move on.