APC CRISIS: WE’LL DEFEAT GHOST HOVERING OVER OUR HEADS —OYEGUN
APC
CRISIS: WE’LL DEFEAT GHOST HOVERING OVER OUR HEADS —OYEGUN
The
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun, has declared that the recommendations of the Governor Simon
Lalong of Plateau State-led 10-man Technical Committee would lay to rest the ghost
that has been hovering over the leadership of the APC.
Oyegun
made the declaration on Friday in Abuja when Governor Lalong submitted the
report of his committee to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
The
committee was inaugurated on Tuesday by Chief Oyegun.
It was mandated to examine the observations of President Muhammadu Buhari at
the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) held last month and make
far-reaching recommendations.
President
Buhari, at the meeting, frowned at the February resolution of the organ of the
party which granted a year tenure elongation to the NEC and the state chapters.
Submitting his committee’s report, Lalong said he was hopeful that the
recommendations, if implemented, would go a long way in resolving the seeming
intractable crises confronting the ruling party.
He
revealed that his committee got pressured by the contending camps within the
party.
“We
concluded this report yesterday (Thursday). This report was accepted by all our
committee members, including those that have travelled back to their
destinations. We did our best within a short time to ensure that we get the
report ready within the accepted time so that this party can move forward.
“The task appeared not easy when it was given to us but with God on our side
and the very wide consultations we made, this report has solved most of the
problems that we were thinking were within the APC. So, that is to tell you
that there is democracy in the APC.
“We
looked at the meeting of February 27; we looked also at the passion and the
commitment of Mr President towards keeping the party one and also cohesive and
so at the end of the day, we made far-reaching recommendations. We noticed that
there were different interests, which is quite usual when you have a party like
this that is progressive and those interests were genuine but at the end of the
day, we were able to marry those interests so that the party can move forward.
So, in this report, you will see a lot of it.
“The
report also contains recommendations on certain issues that we think the party
should do immediately. And one of them you have already started. If these
recommendations are going to be useful within the shortest time, the party must
summon a NEC meeting. Already, we have received notices of NEC meeting for
Monday, which is also in line with our recommendations and we want to assure
you that at the end of the day, APC is coming back to life,” Governor Lalong
said.
In
his response, ChiefOyegun thanked the committee for its diligence and expressed
confidence that the recommendations would lay to rest what he called “the ghost
that has been hovering over the leadership of the APC.”
He
said, “I thank you for the zeal and seriousness. I insisted that the report of
your work was time-sensitive. We shall unite the party and face the events that
will unfold in the next few days. We are going to work all weekend to ensure
that it is digested before the conclusive meeting of NEC.
“I
hope next meeting of NEC will address all issues before we move into the
electoral mood.
“I
thank you on behalf of the NWC for the dedication to this job.”