From Okwe Obi, Abuja.
Senator Chris Adighije has boasted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would win the Abia State governorship in the 2023 general election.
Adighije, who spoke to reporters recently at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in company with Martins Abubuike, disclosed that the APC reconciliation committee for the Abia State chapter would at the end of the month submit its report to the National Leadership of the party.
The reconciliatory committee was set up by the APC National Working Committee (NWC) on August 4 2022, with the mandate to reconcile the aggrieved stakeholders in the state.
Some of the members of the Committee include Senator Chris Adighije – Chairman, Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha – Secretary, Minister of State, for Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, Hon. Emeka Atuma, Hon. Martins Azubuike, Former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Emeka Wogu, APC National Welfare Secretary, Sir F.N. Nwosu and APC Governorship Candidate in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike.
In his remarks, while inaugurating the Committee, the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu urged members of the committee to do the needful by lobbying and reconciling in Abia because all politics is local.
In his speech, the APC National Chairman said: “I hope that what we have done today, the entire world will witness peace and we hope this is the very last step.”
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However, speaking about the works of the committee, Senator Adighije, who is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council, Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State said the committee had engaged many stakeholders in the state.
According to him, all shades of opinion were considered in the committee’s report to the extent that the committee is also recommending for punitive measures against any recalcitrant member.
The chairman appealed to stakeholders and members of APC in the state to sheath their swords and allow peace to reign.
He posited that as stakeholders they can only be relevant in the party at the National level when they are able to deliver their state.
On the work done so far by the committee, the former Abia Central Senator said, the exercise is ongoing: “The reconciliation committee is for the party; it is to strengthen the party to bring about inclusion and unity.
“There is no way APC will win at the National level and lose at the state and anyone will say we have delivered. It would be assumed that the Abia people did not contribute much to the victory at the National level.”
He emphasized that “the reconciliation effort is ongoing, the committee met immediately after the inauguration to access the task ahead of it.
“The committee so far has engaged some critical stakeholders of the party in the state, among which are the federal appointees.
“We made them know that there is no way APC would be reconciled in Abia without them.
“They are key to the reconciliation efforts of the committee and some of them were drafted to be part of the committee, an idea they welcomed.
“One good thing about the meetings so far is that all of them said they were not leaving the party, that they don’t have any reason to leave the party even though there are issues they feel should be addressed.
“Such are issues of party structure and all that and l assured them that the committee would also engage the party at the state working committee to see how their concerns could also be addressed.
“Away from that, the committee has also engaged some stakeholders individually all in the effort to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
“Recurring decimal in all these interfaces is the willingness of all the leaders to remain in the party and work for the party notwithstanding all the misgivings, even though a good number of them believe that something should be done about the party structures.
“A situation where a stakeholder will ask you, you want me to remain in the party whereas l don’t know my ward chairman or whereas somebody from outside appointed a ward chairman for me.
“Those kinds of issues are the major challenges that the committee is facing.
“For this reason, the committee had to take this meeting home to engage with the state chairman, Secretary and a few members of the state Exco to find out what could be done to have a shifting of grounds to have exco at all levels that could be seen to assuage the feelings of leaders who feel aggrieved in their wards, local government areas or say l don’t know who is representing me in the Exco and all that.
“The good news also is that the state working committee has agreed to work out the template which they would give to the committee to enable us to see how we can achieve some level of inclusiveness in the party structure.”
On when to wind up, Adighije responded, “As for the end of the exercise, the committee intends to wind up its exercise by the end of September by which time a detail report of the exercise would be submitted to the party.”
For those in court and what the Committee was doing about them, he said, “the committee recognizes the right of members of the party to seek legal redress, however, it should not be used to destroy the party given that should a member succeed in court, he will also need the party to actualize whatever interest he has. The point therefore is, let’s unite, build and strengthen the party as one strong family.
“So, it is already part of our recommendations. We are recommending that the party should have the will to punish such people not minding how highly placed they are in the party or government because it is becoming a recurring decimal in Abia APC that during elections people will go to the press to talk against the party and at the end of the day nothing happens to them and maybe such people may even be recognized at the centre here through appointments.
“So, we are saying that it does not represent the party well.”
Asked to speak on the fate of the party in the next year’s election, the chairman said, “We are trusting God that this exercise will be productive sufficiently.
“If that happens, it would enrich our party and brighten our chances in the next election.”
The chairman, however, used the opportunity to call on the party leadership and the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) to consider stakeholders in the state in the final list of the campaign council.