President Buhari Meets APC Governors Tomorrow

Zonal Congresses Hold March 12

New NWC Members to be Sworn in March 31

With just a few days to its advertised February 26 national convention date, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again shifted the event to Saturday March 26, 2022. This is the third postponement in six months.

The Secretary of the Caretaker Convention Planning Committee, Sen James John Akpanudoedehe announced the new date to journalists at the end of a meeting on Monday. He said the party would proceed with other pre-national convention activities such as the holding of its zonal congresses by month end.

Earlier, the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) in a letter dated 21st February and addressed to the INEC Chairman, jointly signed by Governor Buni and the National Secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe said:

“In furtherance to Article 85 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and compliance with Section 12:6 of our Party Constitution we hereby write to notify the Commission that our great Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has scheduled to hold its Zonal Congresses on Saturday 26th March, 2022.

“Kindly arrange for your officials to monitor the exercise accordingly.

“While hoping to receive your cooperation, please accept the assurances of our highest esteem”.

It was almost inevitable that the national convention date would be postponed because there were no physical activities to suggest that the event would hold; sub-committees were yet to be set up to handle different departments of a convention of that magnitude.

Similarly, the party was yet to formally announce how it intends to zone its major National Working Committee positions and also that of its presidential candidate and other national offices.

It is being speculated that a strong bloc within the party may be pushing to hold the primary for the selection of its presidential candidate along with that of its NWC positions.

The convention is expected to elect new executives to take over from the Caretaker committee that was inaugurated on June 25, 2020 following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC.

Meanwhile President Buhari is expected to hold a special meeting with the APC governors on Tuesday in Abuja. The meeting, initially scheduled to hold last Tuesday, was put off shortly before the President travelled out of the country on a four-day official visit to Brussels, Belgium to attend the EU-AU Summit.

Also, governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress have countered insinuations that they are responsible for the multiple postponements of the party’s National Convention from December 2021 until Monday’s one-month shift.

Reacting, Chairman of the Governors forum, Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state, said the Governors are not working to hamper the conduct of the National Convention “we appreciate that Nigerians are interested in what the APC is doing because Nigerians gave us their mandate by electing us into offices and holding us to higher standards. And we are very, very conscious of that.

“All the APC governors have met. And as always, have appreciated the need to work together with other stakeholders. We have always been humbled to acknowledge that we are not the only stakeholders of the party; to work with other stakeholders and to ensure that we deliver transparently honest national executives that will earn the confidence of all party members.”

According to the new timetable leading to the convention, the Publication of National Convention Sub-Committees now holds on February 28, 2022. The sale of forms would run from Wednesday, March 9, to Friday, March 11.

Applicants will be screened from March 15 – 17, with screening appeals holding on March 19, 2022.

March 21 is slated for the adoption of the appeal report while the accreditation of participants to the Convention will hold from March 24 – 25.

Zonal Congresses are slated for March 12, while the Convention is fixed for March 26, 2022, to be followed by a convention appeal three days later on March 29.

The appeal report will be adopted on March 30, after which new NWC party leaders will be inaugurated on March 31.
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