Yesterday, the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) convened with state chairmen of the party at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
One of the items on the meeting’s agenda was to inform the state chairmen about the upcoming national caucus and national executive committee (NEC) meetings of the party.
Meanwhile, the governing party has rescheduled its highest decision-making bodies’ meetings, the national caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC), to July 18 and 19.
According to a statement issued by the party’s national secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the national caucus and NEC meetings, which were initially planned for July 10 and 11, 2023, have been delayed due to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitments as the new ECOWAS chairman.
The statement stated: “Members of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are hereby informed that our meetings of 10th and 11th of July, 2023, have been postponed to the 18th and 19th of July, 2023, respectively.
“The postponement is necessary because of the regional and sub-regional schedules and engagements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Inconveniences regretted.”
During the meeting of the party’s national leadership, the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, released a list of party members chosen from different states to serve in the statutory and ad hoc committees of the party. These committees will be presented to NEC at its meeting next week.
Adamu expressed hope that President Tinubu would support the party at both the state and national levels in the ongoing appointment of government positions.
Adamu mentioned that the NEC meeting was postponed due to President Tinubu’s absence, as he is attending the 63rd ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Guinea Bisau.
During the meeting, Adamu acknowledged that the new federal government is currently establishing its structure and that the next two months will witness various appointments to public offices.
He emphasized that all APC members have the right to expect some form of support.
The national chairman stated, “And we can all obtain support here. We cannot all be government ministers. We cannot all end up as board members, directors of agencies, and MDAs across the country.
“It is our hope and prayers that President Tinubu will support us in that regard and strengthen the party’s relationship at the state and national level, and we will receive some level of support in the new government. Those are the key issues that we hope to discuss with you during this meeting.
“The president has just begun. And he is conducting extensive consultations before finalizing his nominees for ministers. The nomination of ministers will come first. They will go through screening until they are approved by Mr. President. After that, Mr. President will officially appoint his ministers and swear them in.
“Only after that will he announce to the country which minister is taking charge of which ministry and how many ministries we will have. After that is done, the ministers will assume office and provide a comprehensive report on all the ministries and MDAs under them, and then we will know which chief executive, director, and part-time director positions are vacant.
“These are some of the activities that will take place in the next two months. They cannot happen next week, but that is what we should expect.”
Regarding the kidnapping of the Ekiti state chairman, Adamu said, “With deep sadness, we announce that one of the state chairmen, the chairman of Ekiti state, was kidnapped. As of now, he is still in the hands of the kidnappers.
“We hope and pray that he will be released and returned home soon.
“In a similar vein, we regret to announce the illness of the governor of Ondo State, who is currently hospitalized overseas. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
After the meeting, the acting secretary of the Forum of APC chairmen and chairman of Cross River State, Alphonsus Oga, assured journalists that there is no crisis over the compilation of names for appointments in the state.
He clarified that the letters for the names were addressed to the state chairmen.
He stated, “Those letters were addressed to state chairmen, and every state chairman is loyal to their state governor. If there is no governor, they are loyal to the stakeholders. There is no crisis.
“In fact, we must commend Mr. President for keeping his promise that state chairmen should be captains of these ships, and I can assure you that the letters were addressed to us.”