The Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum, PGF, Salihu Lukman has tasked the All Progressives Congress, APC Caretaker Committee to urgently release a date for the Party’s National Convention.
Mr. Lukman who gave the advice in Abuja during the unveiling of his book “APC and Campaign for New Nigeria ” said making a date public would reduce speculations.
It would be recalled that the APC set February 2022 to hold it’s National Convention but has not picked a particular day for it.
Mr. Lukman also emphasised the need for statutory organs of the party to meet in preparation for the convention.
He said, “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 occassion and affirming that the Febuary date is sacrosanct. So party members should look forward for a specific date that will be announced by the Caretaker Committee” .
He identified poor management major of relationship among party leaders as one of the challenges of politics in this country today.
According to him, ” This is creating a lot of internal crisis and I believe that as we move towards the convention, we should resume meetings of statutory organs of the party because that will help a number of issues whether it is that of congresses or any other disagreement. One meeting can settle everything.”
The DG APC Governor’s Forum , urged party leaders to convene a meeting, possibly, a meeting of National Cucus or National Executive Committee (NEC), before the convention, to resume the process of reorganizing the party and facing the challenge of providing leadership to this country.
Party Primaries
The PGF DG tasked the APC Leadership of the National Assembly to rework the bill and submit it to the president.
Mr. Lukman explained that some conditions such as a comprehensive membership register needs to be in place for direct primary to work.
“I am not opposed to direct primaries, but 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.
Viable conditions for Direct Primaries.
According to MR Lukman, “Some of those conditions include the fact that the membership of the political party must be very clear; it should not be in dispute. In APC, we are very clear in terms of ensuring that we prioritise the question of developing the membership database of our party. That was why we went through the process of membership registration and revalidation.
“The next stage will be the question of internet within the party to ensure that every member of the party is aware of the records of members without any dispute.”
Accordingly, he appealed to the leadership of the National Assembly to work on the bill and submit it to Mr. President for assent.
Confidence Okwuchi
