APC Convention: Presidential aspirants silent while party faces challenges – Group

Concerned stakeholders of Nigeria’s governing party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, have expressed worry over the silence of some party chieftains declaring their aspirations for the presidency while the party is experiencing challenges to its existence.

The stakeholders under the aegis of the APC Rebirth Group said this in a press statement signed by its Convener, Mr Aliyu Audu.

While expressing concern over the seeming inability of the APC Caretaker Committee to hold its long-overdue National Convention, the group explained that it had reached out to leaders at all levels to make efforts to set the party on the right path while the 2023 general election draws near.

The APC Rebirth called on party leaders to break their silence over the party’s challenges.

“Although we understand that aspirants have the constitutional rights and are at liberty to declare their aspirations at any given time, we, however, are concerned with the present situation of the party. It is a platform aspirants want to use to realise their ambitions, but it has been riddled with glaring challenges that portend danger ahead of the 2023 general election.

“We wonder, won’t it be appropriate first to ensure that our house is well secured and ready for the ambitions of these aspirants? 

“We have hoped that many of the party leaders would break their odious silence on what appeared to be a  deliberate plan to turn the APC into an exclusive club of a few individuals who continue to do as they please with the party.

“Ignoring every plea for retrospection and a return to the foundational principles was the attraction for many Nigerians who have always supported the party in the hope that the members would play a different brand of politics.

“If the leaders have been in slumber all this while, you would expect the public acknowledgement of President Muhammadu Buhari on the party’s crisis and his warning of a possible loss to the opposition if things remain same, will ideally jolt everyone from their sleep. Instead, the silence continues, and campaigns for the highest office has begun; we want to put it on record that their silence is no longer golden. The party must return to the right path, and the earlier our leaders speak out on these issues, the earlier and better for not only the success of the party but also their ambitions. 

“It is for this reason that we call on these aspirants that have declared their intention to pursue their individual ambitions and also those who do so, to join us in the all-important task of ensuring that our party is secured and returned to the path of progressive idealism which was the foundation,” the group said.

Suzan O.