From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has set up a committee to work out modalities on how to bring in new members into the National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC).
The decision followed a presentation by Lady Omorede Osifo, Edo State-born Deputy National Treasurer, in which she drew attention to the plight of what she described as five marginalised national deputies, during the NEC meeting in Abuja last week.
The committee, headed by the erstwhile Governor of Yobe State, Mala Buni, is to resolve the protracted grievance.
Among those in attendance were Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, and APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, who was accompanied by nine other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), including the Deputy National Chairmen (North and South), National Secretary, Legal Adviser, Treasurer, Organising Secretary, Women Leader, Youth Leader, and Leader of Persons Living with Disabilities. Also present were APC governors, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who serves as Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum.
Multiple sources at the meeting disclosed that Lady Osifo, who is the APC Deputy National Treasurer, raised the issue of marginalisation of some deputies at the meeting presided over by President Tinubu.
She moved a motion asking President Tinubu and the leadership of the party to consider including all national deputies in the NWC as against what is currently the norm, in which five deputies are members of the NWC while five are not.
President Tinubu reportedly hailed her for bringing the issue to the forefront and immediately mandated that the issue be looked into promptly.
According to one of the sources, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has demonstrated numerous times that he is a leader who believes in fairness, immediately swung into action by discussing with the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Ganduje, and other leaders on the way forward.
“Thereafter, a committee was put together headed by the former Governor of Yobe State, Mala Buni, to look into the criteria for bringing new members into the National Working Committee as well as National Executive Committee of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress.”
The sources added that the party leaders at the meeting were grateful to Mr President for taking prompt action and were also full of admiration for the “Edo State Amazon” for the wonderful presentation she made.
The issue of the five “marginalised national deputies” has lingered for several years.
The aggrieved officials are miffed that they were excluded from the mainstream fold of the NWC since the current leadership was constituted and inaugurated.
The five deputies who have reportedly lodged complaints about their ill-treatment to the NWC are Bolaji Alabi Edu, Deputy National Legal Adviser; Osifo, Deputy National Treasurer; Jamalu Kabir, Deputy National Youth Leader; Olufemi Akpedeyi, Deputy National Auditor; and Christopher Akpan, Deputy National Welfare Secretary.
Part of their complaints is that while the national leadership had rebuffed entreaties to include them in the NWC, the other five deputies, comprising the Deputy National Secretary, Festus Fuanter; Deputy National Financial Secretary, Hamma-Adama Ali Kumo; Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru; Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yakubu Murtala Ajaka; and Deputy National Women Leader, Zainab Abubakar Ibrahim, were incorporated.
However, dismissing their claim of injustice as baseless, a member of the NWC had said their exclusion was a constitutional issue, explaining that the deputies included in the NWC were products of a motion moved and endorsed during the party’s last elective convention in Abuja.
While advising the aggrieved officials to follow constitutional methods to perfect their inclusion, the national officer said: “This issue has been on the front burner since our inauguration. They have taken their complaints to the national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and to several other places, but they have been advised to follow constitutional options to redress their exclusion. If they are so passionate about it, where were they when they moved the motion at the national convention ground to include themselves in the amendment?”
Citing Section 12.4 of the certified true copy of the party’s constitution that specified the composition of the NWC, the member of the national leadership insisted that the numerical strength of leadership currently stood at 25.
He listed them as the National Chairman, two Deputy National Chairmen from North and South, National Secretary, his deputy, six National Vice Chairmen, referred to as zonal chairmen, National Legal Adviser, National Welfare Secretary, National Treasurer, Financial Secretary, National Organising Secretary and deputy, National Publicity Secretary and deputy, National Women Leader and deputy, National Youth Leader, among others.
The aggrieved deputies have also complained that they were sidelined when the national officers, including the deputies, got N50 million each as housing allowance.
They also claim that brand new Lexus 570 jeeps or equivalent were given to all NWC members excluding them, adding that during the last struggle for control of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, the NWC only included their members in the PCC and excluded the other five national deputies.
But, dismissing the claims of a bazaar honorarium, an NWC member said there was no iota of truth in it, insisting that those who got car gifts did so from their state governors or zones.
“I am a member of the NWC, but I have not changed any car. If I were the aggrieved deputies, I would expose all the fraudulent actions perpetrated by the national leadership. But, like I said, they should explore constitutional options,” he said.
Notwithstanding the explanations, a source sympathetic to the excluded five deputies has admonished the Buni-led panel to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and equitably.