Buhari approves February 2022 for APC convention but date shaky as crisis persists in 12 states
The states facing crises are Rivers, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Osun, Kano, Abia, Zamfara and Kwara, where factions are battling for supremacy.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention will hold in February 2022 following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, crisis in 12 states of the federation may pose a major threat to the date.
In these states, there have been court cases against the ruling party and its Caretaker Chairman, Mai Mala Buni, who is also the Governor of Yobe State.
The states facing crises are Rivers, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Osun, Kano, Abia, Zamfara and Kwara, where factions are battling for supremacy.
Buhari had in June 2020 inaugurated the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee led by Buni with the primary aim of conducting the national convention of the party in December of that year after which the Yobe governor would step aside and a new chairman would have emerged.
However, in December 2020, the tenure of Buni’s committee was extended by six months to June 2021. In June, the convention was again shifted and was expected to hold in December. However, the congresses preceding the convention, which were conducted in the states, ended in rancour with many states producing factional chairmen.
Some of the factions are being led by serving ministers in Buhari’s government.
For instance, in Rivers State, factions led by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Senator Magnus Abe elected different executive councils. While Abe’s faction has as its chairman a former member of the state House of Assembly, Golden Chioma, the Amaechi faction elected Emeka Beke as chairman.
In Kwara State, the party is divided into factions led by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
The Chairman of the APC in Ekiti State, Paul Omotoso, and the state Chairman, South West Agenda for Asiwaju 2023, a pro-Bola Tinubu group, Senator Tony Adeniyi, disagreed over the suit filed by aggrieved party members challenging the conduct of ward congresses in the state.
In Kano State, two factions led by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Senator Ibrahim Shekarau have continued to tear the party apart, while in Osun State, factions loyal to Governor Gboyega Oyetola and the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, produced parallel state executives.
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