APC Crisis: Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, Others To Assemble Today For NEC Meeting

The All Progressives Congress (APC) vowed yesterday to emerge strong from its first National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting after its post-election crisis.

The crisis, which has split the party’s leaders, erupted after the June 9 election of principal officers at the National Assembly.

Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara emerged against the party’s wish.

The party endorsed Senator Ahmed Lawan for Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila for Speaker.

“We are set for the meeting which will address some issues. We are expecting the President, our governors and leaders in the National Assembly. The NEC will properly constitute the Board of Trustees (BOT) of APC because we want all our organs to function effectively.

“We are in the process of reconciliation; we will definitely put our house in order and emerge stronger,” National Secretary Mai Buni said yesterday, adding:

“Politics is sometimes like that. You know our party is the first story of a successful merger of major parties in the country; we were also the first opposition party to dislodge a sitting government; and this is the first time an opposition party is having majority in the National Assembly. You should expect some teething problems but we will reconcile and reunite all.”

Buni said one of the key parts of the agenda is on “ensuring that everybody respects the party.”

There was anxiety last night that the meeting could make or break the APC in view of the “volatile nature” of the agenda.

The warring groups in the National Assembly engaged in marathon consultations and intensified the lobbying of NEC members.

Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, however, set the tone for the meeting by pleading with APC leaders to “shift ground and move to the centre”.

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APC Crisis: Buhari Meets Atiku, Oyegun

The need to further consult and calm frayed nerves has been adduced as reasons why the leadership of the All Progressives Congress shelved a meeting scheduled to hold in Abuja on Tuesday.

It was learnt that some of the party leaders who were still sore about the outcome of the National Assembly leadership elections, are yet to agree to sit on the roundtable with individuals they claimed stabbed them in the back.

A member of the party caucus who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said, “You expect me to sit with people who for their selfish interests connived with the opposition to deny our party what is due to it?

“We need time for the wounds to heal. You must also understand that the comment of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso which is in the papers today, has not helped matters.”

It was further learnt that as part of the consultations before a wider meeting would be called, President Muhammadu Buhari met with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura, at his private residence in Abuja on Thursday.

When contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, denied knowledge of any scheduled caucus or Board of Trustees meeting.

He told The PUNCH, “I am not aware of any meeting scheduled for Abuja, today (Tuesday), I only know that the Governors Forum is meeting tomorrow (Wednesday).

It will be recalled that Al-Makura had on Sunday told newsmen in Lafia, that party leaders would meet in Abuja, on Tuesday to deliberate on the challenges facing the party.

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