To rejig and transform Nigeria’s governing party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, its leaders must uphold the party’s manifesto-like the Bible and Koran.
The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, stated this in his keynote address at a public lecture organised by the APC Press Corps in Abuja.
The annual lecture, which has the theme “APC beyond 2023-the tasks ahead: The role of stakeholders”, provided an avenue for aspirants vying for the position of the APC National chairmanship to speak on their plans for the party.
Mr Okechukwu noted that part of the problem is that the APC National Working Committee, NWC, is not effectively monitoring the party’s elected officials to ensure that they implement the party’s manifesto.
“To rejig our progressive credentials, consolidate and transform our dear party and by extension our beloved country; we must take APC Manifesto as our Bible and our Koran. Our manifesto is structured around the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy.
“I think one of the challenges is the mistake of taking the conduct of party primaries as the core function of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party.
“The primary role of the National Working Committee of our great party is oversight functions of those elected and appointed to government – local, state and federal tier on our platform. NWC enforces the guardrails as per the religious execution of the manifesto of our party by those elected and appointed on our platform.
“Had the NWC played their enforcer role diligently the Federal Government since 2015, wouldn’t it have saved over N2 trillion pumped into our privatised electricity chain without commensurate result?” he said.
The VON DG further tasked the APC NWC to uphold internal democracy by not imposing candidates on party members during primary elections.
“One other essential item which will make or mar our efforts is the issue of internal democracy of our great party. The incoming NWC must, as a matter of urgent national importance, whether direct or indirect or consensus, make sure that the best candidates prevail. It is more so when events have proven that the imposition of candidates engenders adverse outcomes and recession of democracy. The case of the recent Anambra State gubernatorial primary is a case study.
“One will appeal that we candidly for the collective interest of our party to observe Article 20 of the Constitution of our great party, which states interalia.
“All party posts prescribed or implied by this constitution shall be filled by democratically conducted elections at a respective national convention or congress subject, where possible, to consensus. Where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “yes” or “no” by ballot or voice shall be called to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed discontent and crisis,” Okechukwu said.
Suzan O.
