• Aisha Buhari preaches obedience to 35% affirmative action
• Group flays govs over PGF DG’s resignation
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has chosen February 26 for its national convention.
Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, who made the disclosure at the National Progressive Women’s Conference, yesterday, in Abuja, acknowledged the roles played by women during electioneering process, urging their support during the convention and the 2023 general elections.
He said the ruling party, as a matter of deliberate policy, has always reserved some slots for women.
HOWEVER, some stakeholders, yesterday, said the February date “is not sacrosanct,” warning against forcing the party to hold an exercise that could further polarise members.
Sources told The Guardian that while the CECPC had nothing against the decision of the APC governors that the convention should hold in February, the governors, however, failed to put into consideration various litigations and crises rocking some state chapters of the party.
They warned stalwarts against those they accused of planning to “use the national convention as a ruse to create a parallel national executive.”
A source at the national secretariat said: “Some leading leaders of the party are eager to pull the party down if their wishes are not met. Some want to control the party executive as if it is a private estate. Some want to be the national chairman at all costs regardless of what the party says.
“Others have made up their minds to leave and want to use the national convention as an excuse to walk away. When the convention did not come according to their timetable, one of these groups was sponsored to say they are now a parallel CECPC.”
He added that the “CECPC is planning seriously towards having a successful convention. The only thing is that they want to make sure it is appropriately timed to frustrate the expectations of defeatist tendencies within the party.”
The source stated: “Given the challenges, APC governors have a lot of questions to answer in hammering out solutions for the party. Can the party get aggrieved stakeholders to sheathe their swords? Can the governors get members in courts to withdraw the various suits? If that fails, will they go ahead with the convention, as the cases are pending in courts?”
It was gathered that February being proposed by the governors is impossible because of by-elections fixed for February 12 and 26 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
BESIDES, the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has sought better political deals for women by putting them in vital positions, as the 2023 polls approach.
She warned that governors would be held responsible if women do not get the 35 per cent affirmative action in political appointments and administration.
The First Lady, who made the call at the women’s conference, recalled that the National Gender Policy (NGP) recommended a 35 per cent Affirmative Action (AA) in Nigeria since 2006.
ALSO, the APC Rebirth Group has flayed the governors over the circumstances leading to the resignation of the Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman.
The Aliyu Audu-led body, in a statement, said the development “speaks volumes to the fact that governors were not true progressives in its truest sense.”
Source: Guardian.ng
