National Convention: Documents Shows How Buhari’s Endorsement of Adamu, Others are Tearing APC Apart
- The endorsement of some APC chieftains as consensus candidates for key positions within the party is tearing members apart
- While some party members believe the endorsement by the president will save the party from bickering and some back and forth, other do not agree with such
- A chieftain of the party said this will set a bad precedent for the party and Nigeria's struggling democracy
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed!
With the scheduled national convention of the All Progressives Congress drawing near, documents have shown the endorsement of persons for key positions within the party by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that Vanguard had reported that the governors of the APC were unable to make the president change his mind on his preference for Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the consensus candidate for the party's national chairman.
Source: UGC
The report said the governors on the platform of the Progressives Governors' Forum had met with the president at the Presidential Villa shortly before he departed for Kenya on an official assignment.
However, attempts to sway the president to change his choice of national chairman of the party met a brick wall.
Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through info@corp.legit.ng!
More to this is that the endorsement of Adamu as a consensus candidate for the national chairmanship position has thrown party members into various divides.
The division within the party deepened after a leaked document signed off by the president showed that while Adamu has been endorsed for national chairman, Ken Nnamani from the southeast has been pinned to be the deputy national chairman (south).
Source: UGC
Also, the document showed that John Akpanudoedehe from the south-south geopolitical zone was endorsed as the national secretary while other positions that have been pinned to various geopolitical zones were also signed off by the president.
A review of the documents showed that the president first endorsed a set of documents setting out zoning arrangements on March 1, 2022, while he endorsed Adamu and others on February 25, 2022.
Chieftains within the APC react
An APC chieftain in Kaduna the endorsement by the president has closed any further debate on who becomes what within the party.
The chieftain said:
“Baba (President Buhari) endorsing the zoning formula and the candidate has closed any further debate on the matter.
“People will make noise even if it is their own brother that is given this position. So, someone must make decisions to end some of this back and forth at some point."
Another chieftain who opposed the endorsement said that the action only sets a bad precedent for the party.
He said such actions can only contribute to weakening the already weak democratic system practised in Nigeria.
Bad precedence for the party and Nigeria's struggling democracy
His word:
“President Buhari has the right as the party’s de facto leader to show the direction the party should go, but this aspect of one person sitting in a parlour and constituting the APC EXCO is bad news for democracy in Nigeria.
“What is the essence of wasting time and resources on an elective national convention if the president and a couple of governors have constituted the exco in their spare time? We will challenge this legally."
Another chieftain expressed worry that President Buhari could have verbally directed those he wanted to be elected to the exco without committing ink to paper, the way he did.
The chieftain from the northwest region of the country who confirmed to have seen the documents said the action cannot sit well with any lover of due process and democratic construct.
He said:
“I have seen the documents and my own worry is that the President should not have gone to the extent of appending his signature to the papers.
"This is the same signature he uses to conduct matters of the state and to now contemplate the same signature on documents that amount to illegality is demystifying the office of the President."
APC crisis: Pressure continues to mount as PGF chairman says no change in convention date
The ruling All Progressives Congress has maintained that there is no plan underway to change or alter the date for its national convention.
The chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Atiku Bagudu after a meeting of the forum, made this disclosure at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, March 1.
Meanwhile, Bagudu described as rumours the dispute among the APC Governors, noting that there was unity instead.
APC convention: All eyes on Saliu Mustapha, Etsu as Buhari hints on youthful leadership
Legit.ng previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari's open declaration of support for the younger elements contesting party positions in the ruling APC may have shifted attention to two contenders out of the long list of aspirants for the office of the party's national chairman.
President Buhari maintained what some political actors described as a bold position on the internal politics of the party.
While playing host to members of the APC National Lobby Group led by the party's National Youth Leader, Barr. Ishmael Ahmed, at the State House, the president said it was time to give younger elements in the party the benefit of the saddle of leadership in the party.
Source: Legit.ng
