From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Ahead of the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a group known as the Vision for a better Progressives and United Nigeria (VIPUN) has endorsed Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff , former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be the next chairman of the ruling party.
The group rising from a national executive meeting convened in Owerri, the Imo State capital yesterday noted that APC needs “a dynamic, focused and self-willed leader that can galvanize and genuinely reconcile all members, stakeholders and interest groups ahead of the all-important 2023 general elections.”
According to the national coordinator of VIPUN, Comrade Peter Akubuo who read the communiqué to newsmen, “just like any other ruling party, APC has gone through a lot of upheavals in the last couple of years and thus the need for a unifying figure that can reposition it to remain on the winning ways.”
He said “You will agree with me that they were democrats and progressives, particularly those from the opposition parties that came through for the APC, when the party was at the verge of collapse, following the betrayal of some highly placed members of the party, who jumped ship at a very critical point.
“One of the democrats that threw his weight behind the APC during those trying period, was the former National Chairman of the major opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party , Ali Modu Sheriff.
“The former Governor of Borno State, collapsed a major faction of the PDP into the APC and all the lawmakers loyal to him, defected to the APC, giving our party, the much needed majority at both Chambers of the National Assembly. Sheriff has continued to work from behind the scene to keep the APC from collapsing.”