APC caretaker committee to announce convention date Tuesday

Following the meeting of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), the umbrella body of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) will meet on Tuesday to announce the date and venue for the national convention.

The APC governors were locked in a meeting at Kebbi Governors Lodge on Sunday in Asokoro, Abuja, and it ended in the early hours of Monday.

The governors of the ruling party met following immense pressure mounted on the caretaker committee to fix a specific date for the party’s national convention.

Stakeholders of the party have been up in arms with the caretaker committee chaired by the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, over its refusal to announce the venue and date for the convention.

The Chairman of the Forum and the Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, while addressing journalists after a closed-door meeting that lasted for more than two hours, said the caretaker committee would announce the date of the convention.

The caretaker committee would be meeting on Tuesday at the national secretariat of the party to take a decision on the matter

Bagudu assured that the February date was still sacrosanct.

He stated: “We passed a vote of confidence on the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party led by Governor Mai Mala Buni and two other governors among others, governor Muhammed Bello of Niger State and Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun state, who have done an incredible job of running out party successfully. Mobilising people into the party and we are very happy with their conduct.

“We discussed our upcoming convention which you may recall I had cause to address the press after we visited with Mr President in November where Mr President and the party agreed that the convention will take place in February.

“We took inputs about the reviews and we noted all the misrepresentations in the press that we seek to correct that the PGF is one united body as you can see evidently from the attendance. Our decision is unanimous. We are united behind Mr President and we thank him and we are united behind the caretaker committee.

“We are one group of stakeholders in the party and our party respects institutions. The appropriate organ of the party is the caretaker committee that will announce a date.”

Those in attendance included the Governors of Borno State, Babagana Zulum; Jigawa State, Mohammad Abubakar; Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu; Niger State, Abubakar Bello; Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi; and Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

Others are Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade; Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun; Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle; Ebonyi State, David Umahi; Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola; Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Imo State, Hope Uzodimma; Plateau State, Solomon Lalong; Kano State, Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje; Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule; and Deputy Governor of Anambra, Nkemakonam Okeke.