The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, is appealing to Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s new National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to follow the roadmap of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Okechukwu appealed on Sunday while addressing journalists at the Eagle Square Abuja on the outcome of the just concluded APC convention.
PRESIDENT’S ROADMAP FOR PARTY PRIMARIES
While congratulating the new national chairman and members of the NWC, he urged the new APC leadership to diligently follow President Buhari’s roadmap while conducting the parties’ forthcoming primaries.
He opined that the essential items in the president’s roadmap are adherence to the doctrine of internal democracy and equal opportunities, ensuring that the highest bidders would not hijack the forthcoming party primaries.
The DG admitted that money bags were seemingly unavoidable in Nigeria’s body politics but acknowledged the possibility of conducting free, fair, and transparent party primaries.
He said, “I predicate My confidence on the premise that Distinguished Senator Adamu and his team will follow Mr. President’s roadmap because he (Adamu) headed the Reconciliation Committee and some members like the National Organising Secretary are with him. Therefore handy with the Report, it will be easier for NWC to navigate.”
Mr. Okechukwu further advised the Committee to look into the Reconciliation reports for better results in the coming party primaries. “For me the NWC should first address the recommendations of the Reconciliation Committee Report to engender trust and guarantee genuine peace instead of peace of the graveyard in many states before embarking on the primaries.”
Mr. Okechukwu faulted claims that there was no time to waste on reconciliation, describing it as indispensable to the actualisation of Mr. President’s roadmap.
“All the NWC needs to do is to set up many primary electoral panels, a minimum of three per state for State House of Assembly, Senate and Federal House of Representatives, Gubernatorial and Presidential.”
He proposed that “there should be as many as possible because lumping them up will slow down the process and create room for the money bags to hijack the process.”
E/Suzan O.
