By Chesa Chesa
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, on Friday night supervised the swearing in of six new members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) despite protests from Kogi, Abia, and Cross River States.
The oaths of allegiance and office were administered on the new officials at the APC headquarters in Abuja by Barr. Mustapha Abubakar, a Notary Public.
The inauguration came a day after it was scheduled to hold, as it was earlier stalled by protest from a group from Kogi State, led by the Governor, Yahaya Bello.
Early on Friday, two other stakeholder groups from Abia and Cross River States also brought their grievances to the party headquarters.
The three groups all kicked against the nominees announced to represent their States, and demanded a reversal of the action by the party hierarchy.
Nonetheless, Ganduje went ahead with the swearing in ceremony at about 8:40 pm Friday night, with a minor amendment.
Those sworn in were the Deputy National Chairman, North, Ali Bukar Dalori (Borno State); National Vice Chairman, North West, Garba Datti Muhammad (Kaduna State); National Legal Adviser, Prof. Abdul Karim Abubakar Kana (Nasarawa State); National Welfare Secretary, Donatus Nwankpa (Abia State); National Woman Leader, Mary Alile Idele, PhD (Edo State); and, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Duro Meseko (Kogi State).
An earlier nominee for the North Central Zonal Organizing Secretary of the party, Ikani Shuaibu Okolo from Kogi state was however dropped to placate the state Governor, Yahaya Bello whose nominee for the office of Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ismail Yahaya was dropped.
Addressing the new NWC members, Ganduje promised that those whose names were out forward but were not sworn in, would be compensated with other appointments and positions to assuage their angst.
He explained that the party was putting its house in order to position it for victory at the forthcoming off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa States.
In line with that, the APC National Campaign Councils for the three governorship elections would be inaugurated in the respective state capitals, as a way of connecting with prospective voters at the grassroots.
According to the national chairman, “there is no doubt that during the last meeting of the National Executive Committee NEC of our party, the NWC was mandated to undertake some tasks on behalf of NEC.
“We have succeeded. We consulted with stakeholders, governors and others. We know there are some aggrieved people and they are very important. We will discuss with them and I will speak later on that.
“We have taken a decision that every Wednesday, we will conduct our weekly NWC meeting. It is very important.
“Also, we have already made a resolution that our party as an institution will be active throughout the year and not just during election periods. Our party will have operational and functional offices right from the wards, LGs, States, Zonal and national offices as you can see. We believe we will be able to abide by all these.
“Very soon we will launch the National Campaign Councils for our three states – Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi- going into elections this year. Instead of inaugurating the councils here in Abuja, we have decided to do so in the various state capitals so that we can connect with the various stakeholders.
“All of you are competent. We have seen your credentials and you have been nominated and elected through due process by the various stakeholders and therefore we congratulate you.
“As earlier mentioned, there is no doubt that there are some people who are also competent but you can only fill a person.
“From Kogi state, we have Ismail Yahaya. We have taken note of him and he will be engaged in one way or another. We have Ikani Shuaibu Okolo from Kogi state. He too will be engaged appropriately in our government.
“Mrs Obinna from Abia, she too will be accommodated. Hon. Dr Stella Ekpo from Cross River. I think she is a medical doctor. She and two others from Cross River state, according to the outcome of our dialogue, will be accommodated in our government.
“With these, I think we have achieved complete agreement and dialogue. We have achieved dialogue and we have deepened dialogue within our party and this is our culture. We are not dictators but that does not mean that everyone must necessarily agree with you.”
