Nigeria: APC Set to Postpone National Convention by Two Weeks

By Derrick Bangura

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, which was set for February 26, may not take place on that date after all.
THE ANNUAL CONVENTION HAS BEEN POSTPONED BY TWO WEEKS, THISDAY can confirm.
Attempts to speak with Mai Mala Buni, the party’s Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), who is also the Governor of Yobe State, about this recent development were unsuccessful.
Though no official announcement has been made yet, a very trustworthy party source told THISDAY last night that the (CECPC) and APC governors would meet President Muhammadu Buhari today to propose a new date, which is expected to be March 12.
“The convention has been postponed by two weeks, although it is not official yet,” a source who wanted anonymity stated. On Saturday (today), the Caretaker Committee and governors will meet with the President to propose a new date.”
Also, a former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, who pleaded for anonymity, said it was already clear that the convention would not hold, “because there are some things that needed to be done for the convention to hold as scheduled on February 26 and most of them had not been done, with few days to February 26.”
The source stressed that, for instance, one of the things that ought to have been done was the zoning of party offices.
He continued: “People have not bought forms and people cannot buy form if the zoning is not done, and forms cannot come out until the zoning is done. That is when aspirants will know what kind of forms they are buying. If you don’t know the zoning, you can’t buy a form.
“There are no committees, and all of the sub-committees have yet to be formed.” I recall there being around 20 committees at the last convention, in addition to the main convention committee.”
In response to reports that certain governors and a top Senate official were plotting to install Senator Abdulahi Adamu as the party’s next chairman, he remarked that “although individuals or groups may have preferences, President Muhammadu Buhari has the last say on who becomes the party’s next Chairman.”
Nobody can push anyone, so whatever you’re hearing now is all speculation. They’re all waiting for the president to arrive. Everyone is waiting for the president, which is why they can’t zone other places around where he comes from till the president declares this is the chairman.
“So they have to figure out who he is and which zone he comes from before they can zone the remaining offices.” That isn’t to imply that individual governors or groups of governors won’t have preferences. But none of this means anything until such individuals or groups can persuade the president to accept their own.”