The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, has confirmed February 26 as the date set aside for the party’s national convention.
Buni, who made this known on Tuesday at the ongoing Progressive Women Conference in Abuja, said the date is sacrosanct and nothing will stop the convention from holding.
He, however, urged women in the party to come out massively and contest in the forthcoming national convention.
He said: “The party under my stewardship conducted membership registration and revalidation exercise. We found it expedient to constitute a special committee on women and youth before the commencement of the exercise. The roles you played made the membership registration and revalidation a huge success.
Today, APC parades over 41 million registered members, asserting our position as Africa’s largest political party and of course, Nigeria’s leading political party. With these, we are confident of winning the 2023 general election with huge success.
I want to use this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your support to the party, before during and after the exercise. I also look forward to your more support during the convention and indeed the general election.
I’m proud to add that APC is the most women-friendly party in Nigeria. Let me also assure you that the party shall reciprocate this gesture by supporting women and youth in their political aspirations and realising their political dreams.
We look forward to having more women contesting in the forthcoming national convention of the party from February 26, 2022, and the general election. Now as we approach the convention and move closer to the next general election, I wish to remind you of the progressive roles in supporting progressive-minded leaders, aspiring for various offices for the betterment of our country.”
News360 had earlier reported that the set date was picked by the APC governors during their meeting on Sunday and will be relayed to President Muhammadu Buhari before the end of the week.
However, the set date is subject to the final approval of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party led by President Buhari.
A new National Working Committee (NWC) will be elected and inaugurated at the convention which brings an end to the tenure of the caretaker committee.
It was learned that the committee led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State will set up a zoning committee on Wednesday ahead of the scheduled convention.
A party source disclosed that the zoning committee will be charged with zoning its national offices ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He asserted that if the chairmanship is zoned to the North, that may be the clearest indication that the South would produce the presidential candidate.
The convention has generated controversy in the ruling party with the director-general of the Progressives Governors Forum, Salihu Lukman, resigning from his position on Monday.
It was gathered that some governors elected on the platform on the party called for his resignation during their meeting held in Abuja on Sunday night.
Lukman had berated the ruling party for failing to set a date for the scheduled national convention, accusing the Buni-led caretaker committee of attempting to extend his tenure and delaying the convention.
