APC crisis: State chairmen back Buhari, Odigie-Oyegun

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on Wednesday met behind closed-doors with the chairmen of the 36 state chapters of the party.

APC National Chairman, Odigie Oyegun

The meeting which lasted for a little over four hours is the first of its kind since the party won the Presidential election on March 28.

After the meeting, the Chairmen of the state chapters of the party expressed support for the position taken by President Muhammadu Buhari and Odigie-Oyegun with respect to the emergence of the new leadership of the National Assembly.

The meeting was convened by the Forum of APC State Chairmen to review the challenges that bedevilled the party before, during and after the 2015 general elections.

The forum declared support for the decision of President Buhari to accept the outcome of the leadership election in the National Assembly even though he would have preferred that the party’s candidates emerged.

President Buhari and Odigie-Oyegun had accepted the new National Assembly leadership, describing it as a constitutional reality.

In a communique issued and signed by the chairman of the Kano State APC, and the acting Chairman of the Forum, Umar Haruna Mohammed, at the end of their meeting in Abuja, the chairmen said, “We totally aligned ourselves with the President’s position regarding the leadership of the National Assembly.”

They urged the party leadership to ensure that funds were made available to state chapters without delay in order to help them defray their liabilities in line with the resolutions of the National Executive Council.

“Chairman sir, we acknowledge the enormity of the responsibilities placed on the office of the chairman and as such we urge you to be alive to the challenges so as to move the party forward.

“You should always see us as partners in progress and your own foot soldiers as we pray for more success in future, “ they said.

One of the chairmen from a state in the North-West explained that he and his colleagues also considered it necessary to meet with the chairman to among other things, express their displeasure at the way they were being left out of the scheme of things.

He said, “As chairmen of the party at the level of states, we worked for the party and we deserve to be carried along now that the victory has been won.

“We are however not happy that we are being kept in the dark about happenings within the party and we told him so.

“We raised this issue because the states are being neglected and since we do not support disunity within our party, we decided to meet with the chairman to work out ways of improving the situation in the interest of the party.

“On his part, the national chairman told us he has been looking for an opportunity to meet with us to share ideas but that the campaigns and the limited time the party had to organise itself before the election made it difficult.”

In a related development, the Deputy National Chairman (South), Segun Oni, also held a separate meeting with the leadership and selected members of the party from Delta State.

The governorship candidate of the party in the last elections, O’tega Emerhor, however, told newsmen after the meeting that there were no factions within the party in Delta State.

He said, “There are only a few of our brothers who are aggrieved but the issues are being sorted out.”

APC crisis: State chairmen back Buhari, Odigie-Oyegun