The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday met with state chairmen of the party at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
Part of the meeting’s agenda, LEADERSHIP learnt, was to brief the state chairmen of the forthcoming national caucus and national executive committee (NEC) , meetings of the party.
This is even as the governing party has postponed its meetings of the highest decision-making bodies, national caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) to July 18 and 19.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the party’s national secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the national caucus and NEC meetings which were earlier slated for July 10 and 11, 2023 were shifted to the new dates following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s schedules as the new ECOWAS chairman.
The statement issued on Monday noted: “Members of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are hereby informed that our meetings of 10th and 11th of July, 2023, have been postponed to the 18th and 19th of July, 2023, respectively.
“The postponement is necessitated by the regional and sub-regional schedules and engagements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Inconveniences regretted”.
Meanwhile, at the meeting of the party’s national leadership, national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, released names of party members picked from various states to serve in the statutory and ad hoc committees of the party preparatory to present the to NEC at its meeting next week.
Adamu also said he was hoping and praying that President Tinubu would patronise the party, both at the state and national levels, in the ongoing appointments to fill positions in government at the centre.
Noting that the meeting was summoned by the National Working Committee (NWC) to discuss developments in the party, Adamu also stated that Ekiti State chairman of APC, Paul Omotosho, was still in the custody of kidnappers who abducted him at the weekend.
He told the state chairmen that the NEC meeting was postponed as a result of the absence of President Tinubu who is attending the 63rd ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Guinea Bisau.
Speaking during the meeting, Adamu noted that the new federal government was currently forming its structure, and that the next two months would witness various appointments of persons into various public offices.
He pointed out that all APC members have the inherent right to expect some patronage.
The national chairman said, “And we can all get one here. We cannot all be ministers of the government. We cannot all end up as board members, directors of parastatals and MDAs across the country.
“It is our hope and prayers that Mr. President will come along with us in that regard and strengthen the relationship of the party in the states and at the national level and will enjoy some level of patronage in the new government. Those are the key issues that we do hope to share with you in the course of this meeting.
“The president has just started. And he is doing his extensive consultation before coming up with his nominees for ministers. The nomination of the ministers will come first. They will go through their screening until they are pronounced after they have been submitted by Mr. President. And Mr President will formally appoint his ministers and swear them in.
“Only after doing that will he disclose each of them to the country to know which minister is going to which ministry, and how many ministry we are going to have. After that is done, the ministers assume office and make a comprehensive report starting from all the ministr and MDAs under them before we are going to know what vacancies exist of chief executives, directors and part time directors.
“This are some of the exercise that will take place in the next two months. It cannot happen by next week but certainly that is what we should be expecting.”
On the kidnap of Ekiti state chairman, Adamu said, “We announce with the deepest sense of sorrow, a member of the state chairmen, the chairman of Ekiti state, we got to know today that he was kidnapped. And as at the time of coming to this meeting, he was still in the hands of the kidnappers .
“It is our hope and prayers that he will be speared and brought home soonest.
“In the same vein, we regret to announced, the extreme incapacity of the governor of Ondo State who we understand has been hospitalised oversea. We wish and pray for him for a speedy recovery.”
Speaking with journalists immediately after the meeting, acting secretary of the Forum of APC chairmen and chairman of Cross River State, Alphonsus Oga, said there is no crisis over the List of names being compiled in the state for appointment.
He noted that the letters for such names were addressed to the state chairmen.
He said, “Those letters were addressed to state chairmen, and every state chairman is loyal to his state governor and where there’s no governor, they are loyal to the stakeholders. There’s no such crisis.
“In fact, we must commend Mr. President for playing to his promise of saying that state chairmen should be captains of these ships and I can assure you that letters were addressed to us.”
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