More doubt hits APC convention date as women coalition demand postponement

PDP insists on fairness as Northern group vows to resist southern presidential ticket

Coalition of All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Groups has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to postpone indefinitely the national convention of the party fixed for February 26, 2022.

The coalition made the demand in a statement signed by Dr. Cecilia Ikechukwu and other members, yesterday. It said holding the convention in February is akin to building a superstructure on unstable soil, stressing there are several unresolved and contentious issues that ought to be addressed first.

“Currently, the party has factions in 14 states. It is yet to recover from losses in elections that were ordinarily guaranteed in Rivers and Zamfara States during the 2019 general elections.

“Instead of learning the hard lessons contained in those avoidable experiences, the state governors and colluding party leaders are adamant in repeating the show of shame on a national scale by fixing a date for the national convention without first resolving the damaging issues on ground,” the coalition said.

It noted further: “As it was with Rivers and Zamfara, there are legal implications for how the party is progressing into a national convention with all the issues surrounding the party.

“We fear the APC is now firmly placed to lose all the positions our members will contest for, not at the polls, but on legal technicalities as was the case in those two states.”

The coalition appealed to Buhari to “save the APC from implosion,” saying the convention should be “postponed indefinitely to allow the Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CEPC) resolve these issues within the next three days and come up with a comprehensive report on how to navigate the murky waters the APC currently finds itself.”

THIS came as the national leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it would adopt principles of equity, fairness and justice as guide in nominating its presidential candidate in 2023.

Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said this while receiving members of the Northern Advocates for Good Governance (NAFGG), an umbrella pressure group of the 19 northern states, which is pushing for zoning of the party’s presidential ticket to the North.

Abdullahi, who received them on behalf of National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, said the party has learned ample lessons on zoning of presidential tickets and has, therefore, resolved to do things differently.

While presenting the group’s letter, its National Coordinator, Mallam Mahmoud Mohammed Katun, said NAFGG will vehemently kick against “the illogical pressure being mounted by some interest groups and self-serving politicians, who are insisting the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 must be zoned to the Southern part of the country.”