From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the auspices of Concerned APC Stakeholders have demanded the immediate and mass resignation of members of the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee over what they described as a monumental failure.
Speaking during a press briefing, the stakeholders argued that though they acknowledge the wisdom behind the decision to institute the Caretaker Committee as a stop-gap solution to the problems the party was grappling with, it has however become obvious that they cannot fix the problems it met on ground.
Co-convener, Ayo Oyalowo, who read the speech by the group, claimed that the Caretaker Committee has rather created even more problems for the party than it was meant to resolve.
“Having written personal and open letters to our leaders in the party, which we are sure will receive their firm considerations, we are continuing with our campaign to ensure that the APC imbibes progressive principles and ideology as a sure way to the sustenance of the party. Like we have always maintained, whatever we have done and will do in the future are aimed at restoring the values and core tenets that set APC apart as a distinct and progressive party.
“Unfortunately, it appears the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee lacks what is required to take us there. While we acknowledge the wisdom behind the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC to institute the novel idea of the Caretaker Committee as a stop-gap solution to the problems the party was grappling with, it has become obvious to all discerning party men and women that the CECPC cannot fix the problems it met on ground. If anything, the Caretaker Committee has created even more problems for the party than it was meant to resolve,” he said.
Enumerating the sins of the Caretaker Committee, the stakeholders noted: “For a start, the Caretaker Committee which was constituted primarily to stabilize the party and organize the congresses and convention of the party went about functioning as if it was the National Working Committee, and as a result carrying out responsibilities it has no mandate for. Apart from embarking on a needless party membership revalidation/registration that didn’t come with anything new, the Caretaker Committee went about constituting endless committees to carry out the very responsibilities it was assigned to do.
“This is clearly indicative of the incompetence of the committee, and the fact it has even subsisted for this long is a greater testimony to its failure. If the committee’s many ’round-about activities were effective, it would have since fulfilled its mandate and given the party a new leadership.
“The Caretaker Committee has conducted what is arguably the worst ward, local government and state congresses since the formation of the party in 2013. These congresses, rather than putting the party on strong footings has created further divisions and disenchantment among its members. Only days ago, stakeholders of the party from Bauchi State protested at the party’s headquarter as a result of the fallout of the congresses. In the same vein, the attempt by the leadership of the party to reconcile stakeholders from Oyo State hit a brick wall right inside the party headquarters.
“Similar circumstances are also being witnessed in Osun and some other states simply because the processes were built on very shaky foundations and the outcome designed to favour certain selected individuals in the party.
“Another crystal clear evidence of the failure of the Caretaker Committee is the outcome of the Anambra gubernatorial election. While it is sad that the APC came a dismal third in an election it had every chance of winning, it would have been magic if the party had performed better than it did, especially considering that the candidate of the party, Senator Andy Uba emerged through a process that was completely strange to the ideals of the APC.
“Little wonder that almost all the aspirants of the party in the primary election turned the other way after they had been denied the right to exercise their rights as full-fledged members in a free and fair contest. To make matters worse, the Caretaker Committee, rather than managing the fallout of that unfortunate primary elections, busied itself pursuing opposition party members to join the APC.
“But even with almost all the opposition party members emptying into the APC, the party still had the worse outing in the election. Indeed, only politicians living in the yesteryears still believe that the influx of opposition party members to a party is all that was needed to win elections.
“There is no gainsaying the glaring reality that lies ahead if the Buni-led Caretaker Committee is allowed to hold forth at this time the APC needs to close ranks, heal and return to the order that endeared it to Nigerians. Incidentally, the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Reconciliation Committee that is meant to help achieve some of these tasks is yet to fully kick-off.
“Apart from the fact that the committee is still struggling to find its feet in spite of the huge task ahead and the limited time at its disposal, it is left to be seen how much this piecemeal approach the Buni-led committee has adopted, just to be seen as doing the needful, will help to get us out of the woods,” the group noted.
Reacting further, the Concerned stakeholders said: “What is certain however is that we shall not sit and watch a party we have contributed so much in the building go down the drain as a result of the selfish actions of a few. On the basis of the above and many others too numerous to mention, the Concerned APC Stakeholders is calling for the immediate resignation of the Buni-led Caretaker Committee for their glaring failures in managing the affairs of the party; failure of which the Committee should be immediately dissolved and a new committee whose task will be to immediately conduct the National Convention of the party be constituted.
“In the same vein, we are calling on all concerned members of the party across the country, and particularly our leaders, to join hands and ensure that we elect a National Working Committee that will truly represent the interest and aspirations of genuine APC members. The party is in urgent need of an inclusive NWC that will look holistically at the issues bedevilling the party and resolve them once and for all.
“We also use this medium to call on all party members who have aspirations for any position in the forthcoming national convention to come out and declare their interests without the fear of being denied the right to contest at the convention. We are more than determined to ensure that the upcoming convention would be an elective one and that no set of people, no matter how powerful or highly placed, would impose leadership on the party in the name of consensus.
“It is on the back of this that the Concerned APC Stakeholders wholeheartedly throw its weight behind the direct primary option of electing candidates for political parties. For us in the APC, this singular action of the National Assembly which has also received the endorsement of the tripartite committee is a victory for internal party democracy, one that will return the party to the ordinary members who have toiled day and night for the success of the party and not a few privileged and selfish individuals,” he said.