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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Ahead of the March 26 National Convention of the ruling party, the governors of the All Progressive Congress (APC) have said they will support whoever President Muhammadu Buhari supports.
The governors were led to the meeting by the Chairman of the Interim Committee of the party and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.
The Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, said they will support any process that would lead to a consensus.
President Buhari had last month said he was in favour of the consensus mode for selecting candidates for the party’s national positions.
He had urged the governors to explore the option of consensus.
Speaking on those who are rebelling against a consensus candidate and are insisting on going ahead to contest the chairmanship position, Governor Bagudu said: ‘Our party is a democratic party, we will always urge consensus, we’ll urge respect for the decisions of the party because the distribution of political party offices here has been approved by the highest organ of the party, which is the National Caretaker Committee because they were acting in their capacity as the National Executive Committee of the party. But where people still choose to go against the grain, whatever the party constitution allows them, because we wouldn’t do anything undemocratic.
‘Mr President has always urged consensus for all positions because consensus is in accordance with the democratic tenets and once you have leaders who are established, who are working towards the same goal, yes, we might have our individual differences, like was once carefully explained by Governor El-Rufa’i, but on the principle of ensuring that we get leadership that will hit the ground running, we are united, and to that extent, we will support any process that will lead to consensus and the emergence of leaders without the need for an election.’
On if there is likely going to be surprises at the convention, the chairman of PGF said: ‘No, the governors are united. The governors are unanimous in support of Mr President. The governors are unanimous in the support of the caretaker committee, we thank the Caretaker Committee for what they have been doing.
‘Naturally, there will be hiccups one day, but we have overcome them and we are a human organization, which is bound sometimes to generate emotions and anxiety, but we are united and unanimous and by God’s grace, we’ll have a very successful and peaceful National Convention.’
Earlier, Bagudu said the forum briefed President Buhari on what the governors have been doing in support of the March 26 National Convention, which is coming up in a few days.
‘We restated our commitment to our unity and support for Mr President to acknowledge the progress made under the APC.”
On Buhari’s letter to him as chairman of PGF and the series of actions that followed, Bagudu said it led to their recommitment to ensure the party succeeds.
‘Some of you may recall that last week there was a letter that was widely circulated in the media, addressed to me as the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and copied to a number of others, including the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, the acting Chairman of the Caretaker Committee and indeed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,’ he said.
‘That letter led to a series of actions, including meetings between the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Acting Chairman, Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State, as he was then, and myself.
‘We all restated our commitment to working together to ensure that the convention takes place on March 26, 2022, and then we agreed to support all the decisions that were taken by the Caretaker Committee, both acting as a working committee and acting with the donated powers given to it by the National Executive Committee.
‘Indeed, the Chairman of the Caretaker, upon his return, also appreciated what the Caretaker Committee did and the decisions that were taken in his absence.
‘Today we all briefed Mr President on that, of course, included on that is the issue of distributing political party offices to the respective zones and our support for Mr President’s endorsement of the candidate for the National Chairman of the party and the various geo-political zones took turns to brief Mr President, on what they have been doing to generate consensus in their respective zones amongst the National Working Committee and zonal party positions that have been either allocated to the zones or which the zones are entitled to.
‘Most of the zones have been allocated National Working Committee positions that are fewer than the number of states, but however, there are zonal executive committees from which the zones are working to produce a consensus list.
‘So, this afternoon, the respective zones; Governor Abu Bello on behalf of the North-Central; His Excellency, Governor Babagana Zulum Umara, on behalf of the Northeast; His Excellency, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State on behalf of Northwest; His Excellency, Governor Dave Umahi, on behalf of Southeast. Governor Kayode Fayemi briefed the President on the South West. I further mention the position of the South-South to Mr President, as I had on paper.
‘So, Mr President appreciated the briefing and restated his gratitude for the work the governors have been doing in support for them in support of the party and preparation for the National Convention.’
In attendance were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and 16 governors of Kebbi, Plateau, Kogi, Yobe, Ogun, Kaduna, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Imo, Niger, Jigawa, Kwara, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Borno, and Osun States.
