The ruling Political Party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress has released the dates for the all-important party national Convention.
This is coming after weeks of controversies and violence and parallel ward and state congresses that greeted most of the Congresses held at the State level, with most of the States having two chairmen emerging both at States and ward level. But the leadership of the party are moving round members to see how they can reconcile aggrieved members before the National Convention which dates have been announced. The timetable looked like this:
National Convention for Saturday, June 23, 2018.
Inauguration of newly-elected Party executives will subsequently hold on Monday, June 25, 2018 –
It is going to be a difficult one, especially in States such as Rivers State, where it is alleged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who is also the immediate past Governor of the State, is in a loggerhead with his friend and somehow, political son, Senator Magnus Abe over who emerge the State delegates and party chairman.
Also, another important one and more interesting is that of Kaduna State, where the State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is battling the three Senators from his State over who controls the party structures in the state. Their battle dates back even before the state convention which the Senators have denied that there was no congress in Kaduna state, as the Governor hijacked the process.
The Governor has even threatened to punish the three Senators with votes come 2019 elections as they all will be seeking re-election after they turned down the loan request from the Governor…lol…
We also have the case in Oyo State, where the Minister of Communication Alhaji Shittu and some members of the National Assembly are battling with the governor Senator Ajimobi for the control of the party in the state, and the issue of Shittu eying the governorship seat in the State come 2019.
The power tussle between Governor Ajimobi and Shittu have further divided the party in the state, and this was on display at the state Congresses where the Governor was alleged to have switched the names of elected members in the Congress for his own hand-picked candidates, thereby creating uneasiness in the party and the state.
There is the case of Imo state, where state Congresses are yet to be concluded after a member of the National Assembly was alleged to have absconded with the result sheets. Both the police and the Governor are yet to locate the result sheets as the member denied the claims.
Anambra too had its own case where the Minister of Labour and former Governor of the State Dr Chris Ngige was almost lynched by members before he was whisked away by security, likewise Delta State where a member was shot dead, Ekiti and Lagos, even Ogun state.
There is also the issue of aggrieved nPDP who are threatening to pull out of the party, as they claimed they are being marginalised by the party. Also, the issue of those loyal to Chief John Odigun and Adams Oshiomole will all come to play at the coming National Convention.
It will be an interesting task ahead for the APC, as they prepare for the National Convention where they will be hoping to avoid a mass exodus from the party, just like what happened to PDP four years ago. The PDP saw eight Governors leaving their party’s convention which led to the eventual collapse of the PDP and losing power after ruling for 16years.
…We are waiting to see how this crisis will be managed by the party…