National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi
Akande, and Chief Tom Ikimi are currently locked in the battle for the
chairmanship of the All Progressives Party, findings by The PUNCH on Monday have
revealed. Read more
The battle to head the yet-to-be-registered merger party
between Akande and Ikimi followed the ceding of the interim national
chairmanship to the ACN by the stakeholders.
Curiously too, same scenario on Monday obtained in the
Congress for Progressive Change, a major arm of the merger and to which the
post of the National Secretary of the APC has been zoned.
A source at the top hierarchy of the APC who spoke to our
correspondent on Monday night said the self-interest factor had set into the
affairs of the new party which is set to announce its Interim Executive
Committee on Tuesday (today).
The nine-member IEC will manage the affairs of the party
till its registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The source said, “As you already know, the APC chairmanship
has been ceded to the ACN, the CPC is to produce secretary while the ANPP will
produce the treasurer when the party eventually gets registered.
“We are first of all human beings and there are of course
interests. For the ACN, where the chairmanship was given, there are issues
because two of their leading figures, Chief Tom Ikimi, who has been a visible
member of the party’s merger committee, and Bisi Akande have shown interest.”
For the CPC, the source said, “It is not different. Its
members too are having their own issues because the current National Secretary
of the Party, Alhaji Buba Galadima, and an equally strong member of the party,
Malam Nasir el-Rufai, as well as the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi
Fashakin are also interested.
“We’ve not
heard much from the ANPP on who they are putting forward as treasurer.”
According to the informed insider, internal wrangling among
the three merging political parties is largely responsible for the decision by
the leadership of APC to settle for an interim executive committee to pursue
the registration of the party.
The source said, “You will agree with me that we can do with
less of this distraction for now.”
Our correspondent gathered after the party had been
registered, an Interim Management Committee would replace the IEC.
National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, said he was not aware that Akande and Ikimi were contending for the
chairmanship slot of the APC
But when contacted, National Publicity Secretary of the CPC,
Rotimi Fashakin, dismissed the issue of internal wrangling within the party as
a mere speculation.
Fashakin however confirmed that a meeting had been scheduled
to hold today (Tuesday). Though the CPC spokesman said he did not know whether
the APC IEC would be unveiled at the meeting, The PUNCH reliably learnt that
except the stakeholders have a change of heart, the nine members of the IEC
would be announced today.
He said, “What the leadership of our parties has decided is
that three officials from each of the merging parties recognised by law will
for now serve as members of the Interim Executive Committee.
“For the
avoidance of doubt these officials are the national chairmen, national
secretaries and national treasurers of the three parties involved in the
merger.”
He further explained that members of the IEC would be
involved in the correspondence with INEC “until our registration process is
concluded.”
For the ACN, Akande who is the current National Chairman of
the party and his counterparts in the ANPP and CPC, Chief Ogbonaya Onu and Tony
Momoh, respectively are automatic members of the committee.
A leading member of the proposed APC, who was the candidate
of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in the 2011 elections, Ibrahim Shekarau, had
told journalists in Kano on Sunday that a decision to constitute the committee
had been reached.
Shekarau refuted claims that Akande had been endorsed as the
Interim National Chairman of the proposed APC.
He, however, explained that Akande was eligible to be nominated
by the nine-man Interim Management to be set up by the party, if it so desired.
Shekarau, during a press conference in Kano, explained that
that explanation became necessary so as to put the records straight as well as
to dismiss speculations that Akande had been endorsed as the Interim Chairman
of the APC.
Culled from Punch newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment