APC sets up reconciliation committee

The National Working Committee, NWC, of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, has set up a peace and reconciliation committee to intervene in the crisis affecting some of its chapters across Nigeria’s 36 states.

The party said it is disturbed  by the internal crises in its state chapters.

Recently, some state chapters of the APC have been engulfed in internal crisis, leading to suspensions of party leaders and other members.

“Concerned by this ugly trend and as part of preparation for its non-elective National Convention which is expected to hold not later than April 2017, the NWC has decided to set up the committees to resolve all outstanding issues in order for the party to have a united front going to the convention,” APC said in a statement by its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Monday.

Mr. Abdullahi said the committees will be made up of senior members of the party and some members of the National Executive Committee, NEC.

“They will have the mandate to investigate all issues with a view to finding a lasting solution and reconciling members in the affected state,” he said.

In the interim, the party said, it has directed that where actions have been taken and disciplinary measures applied, state chapters should be strictly guided by the relevant provisions of the party’s constitution on disciplinary procedures.

“Therefore, where those actions have been taken in breach of the processes and procedures that are laid down in the party constitution, such actions should be reversed and the status quo maintained pending the intervention of the peace and reconciliation committees,” the party said.

A PARTY IN CRISIS

Since coming to power, the APC has been engulfed in one internal crisis or another.

At its national office, a leader of the party and ex-Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, has called for the exit of the party’s national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

Also, no fewer than 12 state chapters of the APC are having unresolved crises.

They include Adamawa, Kogi, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and Kano.

However, those of Kaduna and Kano, both in the north-west, appear more intense as they repeatedly reverberate at the national level.

In Kaduna State, the hostility between the governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the senator representing the central district of the state, Shehu Sani, has continued unabated.

The animosity between the two political gladiators in the state began shortly after the APC took over in Kaduna and has led to a split of the party with members queuing behind them.

In  neighbouring Kano, there is also a raging feud between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, now a serving senator. Mr. Ganduje had served as deputy to Mr. Kwankwaso while the latter was in power.

The governor made moves to undermine Mr. Kwankwaso’s influence in the state chapter of the APC by sacking some loyalists of his predecessor from his government and also ensuring the removal of others from the state executive committee of the party.

Premium Times