Make Convention Date Public, APC Caretaker Committee Told

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) Dr. Salihu Lukman has called on the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to make known the date of the national convention of the party in order not to give room for speculation.

The director-general made the call yesterday in Abuja during the public presentation of his new book titled, “APC and Campaign for New Nigeria.”

He said the book basically appealed to the party leaders to prioritise internal negotiation, adding that the leaders have demonstrated very good capacity to make sacrifices and that is how the party was formed in the first place.

On the party’s convention slated for February, Lukman said he was happy from the information party members got from the media that the Caretaker Committee has confirmed that the convention will take place in February.

He stated: “My appeal is for the Caretaker Committee to remain proactive; certain issues should not be allowed to go into speculation. Information about the date of the convention, I think should be made public so that every party member knows when the convention is going to hold in February.

“We must commend the leadership of H.E, Mai Mala Buni, for rising to that occasion and affirming that the February date is sacrosanct. So, party members should look forward to a specific date that will be announced by the Caretaker Committee.”

Lukman pointed out that his new book also appealed to party leaders again to prioritise the issue of relationship because the major challenge of politics in thee country today is poor management of relationship among party leaders.

He stressed that this was creating a lot of internal crisis, pointing out that as the party’s convention approaches, meetings of statutory organs of the party should resume in order to settle a number of issues especially as regards congresses.

Lukman added: “Our leaders should be able to convene a meeting, possibly, a meeting of National Caucus or National Executive Committee (NEC), before the convention, on the basis of which we can begin to resume the process of reorganising ourselves and facing the challenge of providing leadership to this country as we move to 2023.”

“I have the belief that we will continue to advocate for a situation where our politics in the party is issue-based because Nigeria is too passionate about personalities. The commitment of party leaders to issues is what is more paramount.”

The party chieftain clarified that he was not opposed to direct primaries, butadded that there are some conditions which must be met for direct primaries to be able to provide the democratic platform that will confirm the voice of individual members of the party.

Lukman said some of those conditions include the fact that the membership of the political party must be very clear; it should not be in dispute.

He noted that the ruling party prioritised developing its membership database through the process of membership registration and revalidation.

Lukman stated: “The whole debate about direct or indirect primary is basically an APC issue. To that extent, my position is to appeal to the leadership of the National Assembly to provide the necessary leadership so that we don’t muddle up issues.

“My argument was that the original bill which went for public hearing did not include all those provisions. It was out of the momentary anger I think that led to the situation whereby National Assembly members felt compelled to amend the law and include direct primaries.

The issues that are necessary in the Electoral Act which are not contentious are issues of electronic transmission of results and all the other issues.”

He urged the lawmakers to work with President Muhammadu Buhari so that they don’t throw the baby with the bath water.