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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is not considering any national convention yet as it holds National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Tuesday even as it threatened to sanction members who dragged the party to court over the recent elongation of the National Working Committee (NWC)members of the party.
Speaking with newsmen at the party secretariat shortly after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting on Monday APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the issue of convention “is not on the agenda for the meeting.”
He noted that “If you recall after the NEC meeting last month, I told you that two issues were outstanding and that members asked for more time to study those issues. These are the issues of constitutional amendment and the True Federalism committee report. These are the two key items on the agenda for tomorrow’s NEC meeting.
“If you look at the calendar that was circulated during the last meeting, we are going to have a convention by June and a committee will be set up to that effect, but no committee has been set up yet and it is not on the agenda for (today’s) meeting. In any case, such committee is not set up at the NEC meeting.”
He noted that the party has resolved to punish aggrieved members who drag the party to court over NEC’s decision to extend the tenure of NWC, saying: “It is something we are looking at and if is a possibility because we have a responsibility to also protect the constitution of the party and to maintain discipline in accordance with the constitution.
“We believe that if the highest organ of the party has taken a decision, whether you support that decision or not, you have to stand by it and if you are not happy, you take advantage of internal mechanism before you go to court. There is no evidence at this time that such members avail themselves of the opportunities that exist internally to express their grievances before taking the matter to court.”
The ruling party is facing some challenges within, which has stalled its national convention, a development that has not gone down well with some members of the party who have openly voiced their opposition to it.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
