Stakeholders of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, have tackled the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, over its handling of the party, saying the committee cannot lift APC from its woes.
The stakeholders asked the committee to resign duties stating that they are interventionist and ad-hoc, yet acting like a statutory National Working Committee, NWC. They demanded the immediate dissolution of the CECPC. According to the stakeholders, there is a need to urgently convene a national convention and put in place an all-inclusive and substantive NWC.
At a news conference in Abuja, a spokesperson of the stakeholders, Ayo Oyalowo, also faulted the party leadership for barring aggrieved members from accessing the party secretariat.
“When we concluded that the practices within the party run contrary to the progressive image and credentials of the APC, we raised our voices because we do not want to go down in history as one of those whose silent complicity brought the APC to where it is headed.
“We spoke out with the full expectation that we could lend our support to genuine efforts aimed at effecting the corrective measures needed by our party, as it was adopting practically all abnormal political practices as a norm.
“However, instead of seeing reasons with our concerns and heeding to the call for a return of the party to its core foundational principles and progressive ideologies, we are appalled that all the current party leadership did was to declare us persona non grata and put orders in place banning us from accessing the party secretariat.
“Apart from the clear instructions issued to the leadership of the APC Press Corps not to allow our group the use of the press center, we are knowledgeable about a memo issued to all departments in the party headquarters directing all department heads not to allow us entry or the use of any facility within the secretariat complex.
“These actions are indeed a sign of the regression in the APC that we spoke about, for we believe that no true progressive party would deny members any right or privilege on account of expressing a contrary but valid position. We waited this long before speaking out about the sad development because we did not want to be distracted from our objectives. Our objectives remain to preserve the sanctity of this party for the benefit of all its members, high or low, young or old, male or female. Let it be known that we shall remain firm on this resolve no matter the extent of threat or intimidation we may encounter,” he stated.
The stakeholders noted that having written personal and open letters to party leaders, they were continuing with the campaign to ensure APC imbibed progressive principles and ideology as a sure way to the sustenance of the party.”
“Like we have always maintained, whatever we have done and will do in the future aims to restore the values and core tenets that set APC apart as a distinct and progressive party. Unfortunately, it appears the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee lacks the requirements to take us there.
“While we acknowledge the wisdom behind the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC to institute the novel idea of the Caretaker Committee as a stop-gap solution to the problems the party was grappling with, it has become obvious to all discerning party men and women that the CECPC cannot fix the problems it met on ground. The Caretaker Committee has created even more problems for the party than it resolved.
“For a start, the Caretaker Committee, which was made up primarily to stabilise the party and organise the congresses and convention of the party, went about functioning as if it was the National Working Committee, and as a result of carrying out responsibilities, it has no mandate for.
“Apart from embarking on a needless party membership revalidation/registration that didn’t come with anything new, the Caretaker Committee went about constituting endless committees to carry out the very responsibilities it was assigned to do. This shows the incompetence of the committee, and the fact it has even subsisted for this long is a greater testimony to its failure. If the committee’s many ’round-about activities were effective, it would have since fulfilled its mandate and given the party a new leadership.
“The Caretaker Committee has conducted what is arguably the worst ward, local government, and state congresses since the formation of the party in 2013. These congresses, rather than putting the party on strong footings, have created further divisions and disenchantment among its members.
“Only days ago, stakeholders of the party from Bauchi State protested at the party’s headquarter as a result of the fallout of the congresses. In the same vein, the attempt by the leadership of the party to reconcile stakeholders from Oyo State hit a brick wall right inside the party headquarters. Similar circumstances are also being witnessed in Osun and some other states simply because they built the processes on very shaky foundations and the outcome designed to favour certain selected individuals in the party.
“To make matters worse, the Caretaker Committee, rather than manage the fallout of that unfortunate primary election, busied itself pursing opposition party members to join the APC. But even with almost all the opposition party members emptying into the APC, the party still had the worst outing in the election. Indeed, only politicians living in the yesteryears still believe that the influx of opposition party members to a party is all that was needed to win elections.
“There is no gainsaying the glaring reality that lies ahead if the Buni-led Caretaker Committee may hold forth. The APC needs to close ranks, heal and return to the order that endeared it to Nigerians.
“Based on the above and many others too many to mention, the Concerned APC Stakeholders is calling for the immediate resignation of the Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee for their glaring failures in managing the affairs of the party; failure of which the Committee should be immediately dissolved and a new committee whose task will be to immediately conduct the National Convention of the party be constituted,” Oyalowo stated
